Carlos Alcaraz was again made to sweat on Centre Court before booking a quarter-final spot with a 6-3 6-4 1-6 7-5 win over stubborn 16th seed Ugo Humbert.
Having fought back from two sets to one down to defeat Frances Tiafoe in the previous round, Alcaraz seemed to be enjoying a much easier time of it as he stormed the opening two sets, only for Humbert to produce some sublime tennis thereafter.
The Frenchman too would have felt aggrieved to lose the second set, in fact, as he squandered four break points on Alcaraz’s serve in the fifth game. And then, having only coughed up four points all set on his own serve, Humbert was suddenly broken out of nowhere to lose the set 6-4.
He was not to be deterred, though, as he proceeded to break the Alcaraz serve on four straight occasions over the course of a dominant third set and early into the fourth.
The defending champion appeared to have no answer for Humbert’s immaculate return game, the 16th seed hitting thumping winners with regularity and mixing in the odd heavy ball to the back of the baseline to do for the flat-footed Spaniard.
That said, Alcaraz himself twice broke Humbert to start the fourth set, but things were back on serve by the end of the sixth game as the determined Humbert continued to dig his heels into the Centre Court grass.
More thunderous groundstrokes off the left-hander’s racket helped set up three break points in the eighth game of the fourth set but, as in the second, a wasteful Humbert would ultimately rue spurning every single one of them as three games later it would be Alcaraz who’d earn the crucial break before serving things out.
American 12th seed Tommy Paul raced against the fading light on Court Two to dispatch of Spanish veteran Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 and set up a quarter-final clash with Alcaraz.
The 27-year-old took just over two hours to beat Bautista Agut who was bidding to reach his second Wimbledon quarter-final in his 10th appearance here.
Paul, whose grass game is finely tuned after he won the Queen’s Club warm-up event last month, had just too much power and variety for the 36-year-old, now ranked 112.
Bautista Agut made the American work in the second set but a couple of unforced errors lost him the chance to draw level and Paul raced through the final set, clinching the match with an ace.
The players had arrived on court late because of rain showers and the shadows were long across the court when they finished.
“He (Alcaraz) plays amazing tennis on grass but I’m playing pretty good too,” said Paul, who is on a nine-match winning streak. They have split their four previous career meetings, winning two each.
Elsewhere in the men’s singles, world No 5 Daniil Medvedev advanced through to the last eight after 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov was forced to retire with a leg injury while trailing 5-3 in the first set.
He will face world No 1 Jannik Sinner next after the Italian made light work of promising American youngster Ben Shelton, beating the 14th seed in straight sets 6-2 6-4 7-6 (11-9).
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