LONDON: Jasmine Paolini ended Alexandra Eala’s Wimbledon run in their last-16 match at The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on Monday Italian 13th seed Paolini edged out Iga Swiatek’s conqueror Eala with a gritty 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory on Centre Court, reaching her first Grand Slam quarter-final since losing the 2024 All England Club final.
Paolini will next face Ukrainian 12th seed Marta Kostyuk, who saw off American qualifier Ashlyn Krueger 6-4, 6-4.
It marks a return to form for Paolini, who has struggled this year and appeared on the verge of a first-round exit last week when she lost her opening set of the tournament 6-0 to world number 195 Robin Montgomery.
“After the first set in the first round I was like ‘Okay, it can only go better’… point by point, game by game, I was feeling better,” said Paolini, who was also the runner-up at the French Open two years ago.
Belgian Elise Mertens backed up her surprise last-32 win over second seed Elena Rybakina by seeing off Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-4 to book a maiden Wimbledon quarter-final against Linda Noskova, also a Czech, who downed Madison Keys of the US 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) to reach the Wimbledon last eight for the first time.
On the men’s side, Italian Flavio Cobolli continued his strong form by reaching a second straight Wimbledon quarter-final with an impressive 7-5, 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 win over Australian fifth seed Alex de Minaur.
Taylor Fritz eased into the quarter-finals for the fourth time in five years with a dominant straight-sets win over Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik .
The American sixth seed, beaten by Carlos Alcaraz in the semis last year, took control of the match in a first-set tie-break en route to a 7-6 (7/1), 6-4, 6-4 success.
Late on Sunday, reigning champion Jannik Sinner eased into his fifth consecutive Wimbledon quarter-final with a straight-sets victory over Japanese qualifier Shintaro Mochizuki.
The world number one was given a spirited challenge by the 151st-ranked Mochizuki, but secured a 6-3, 7-6 (7/0), 6-3 success to set up a last-eight tie with German veteran Jan-Lennard Struff.
German Struff won 3-6, 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/2), 7-5, 4-2 against Polish Hubert Hurkacz who retired.
Sinner did not play a grass-court warm-up event ahead of Wimbledon for the first time and looked a little undercooked earlier in the week, especially when he needed five sets to beat Miomir Kecmanovic in the first round.
But he has grown into the tournament and produced his best performance of the week in the last 16, saving all five break points he faced.
Sinner needed two hours and 25 minutes to wrap up victory under the Centre Court roof.
Canada’s third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime downed Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (8/6), 6-3, 6-7 (2/7), 6-1 to make the last eight.In the women’s section, seventh seed Coco Gauff of the US beat Switzerland’s eleventh seed Belinda Bencic 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the fourth round.
Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2026