Fritz reaches quarterfinals; No. 1 Sabalenka wins

LONDON — U.S. Open runner-up Taylor Fritz moved into the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the third time in four years Sunday, advancing when his injured opponent, Jordan Thompson, quit while trailing 6-1, 3-0 after 41 minutes. The unseeded Thompson's movement and power clearly were compromised. The Australian entered the match with back and leg issues and left the court for a medical timeout in the second set, then stopped after trying to play for three more points. "Just got significantly worse today," said Thompson, who was competing in singles and doubles at Wimbledon. "Just played a lot of tennis on a body that shouldn't have been, and it just took its toll." For the No. 5-seeded Fritz, it was a shorter workday after playing a pair of five-setters and one four-setter earlier in the tournament. "It's obviously not the way that I want to go through," Fritz said. "It's just sad... Respect to him for coming out. His body's not right." Now the American will meet No. 17 seed Karen Khachanov of Russia on Tuesday for a berth in the semifinals — a round neither has reached at the All England Club. Khachanov has been a Grand Slam semifinalist twice, at the U.S. Open in 2022 and the Australian Open in 2023. Fritz made it that far at a major for the first time when he got to the final at Flushing Meadows in September before losing to No. 1 Jannik Sinner. Khachanov beat Kamil Majchrzak 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 on Sunday and is 2-0 against Fritz, although their most recent meeting was in 2020. "We practice all the time, so we're pretty familiar with each other's games," Fritz said. "But I think I improved a ton and have become a much, much better player since the last time we played." No. 1 Sabalenka moves on No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka reached the quarterfinals at her 11th consecutive Grand Slam tournament, defeating No. 24 Elise Mertens 6-4, 7-6 (4), and will play Laura Siegemund, the 37-year-old German who followed up her elimination of Australian Open champ Madison Keys by beating lucky loser Solana Sierra 6-3, 6-2. When Siegemund's age was mentioned during an on-court interview, the crowd applauded, and she joked: "It's not that often you get such a compliment for being old." Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova overcame a missed call late in the first set when the electronic system that replaced line judges at Wimbledon this year was shut off, but ended up beating Sonay Kartal 7-6 (3), 6-4 to return to the grass-court major's quarterfinals for the first time in nine years. Pavlyuchenkova's opponent Tuesday will be No. 13 Amanda Anisimova or No. 30 Linda Noskova. Alcaraz pushes through Carlos Alcaraz's latest up-and-down Wimbledon performance began with a dropped set. Later Sunday, he was in danger of getting broken to fall further behind in the third. And then, as he so often does, Alcaraz seized the moment, produced some magic and moved closer to a third consecutive title at the All England Club. Alcaraz stretched his winning streak in the grass-court Grand Slam tournament to 18 matches — and his current unbeaten run across all events to 22 — by coming back to beat No. 14 seed Andrey Rublev 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 at Centre Court to return to the quarterfinals. In this fortnight's first matchup between two men ranked in the top 20, No. 2 Alcaraz brought out his best while down 3-2 in the third set. First, he needed to fend off a break chance for Rublev, doing so with a forehand passing winner. After eventually holding to 3-all, Alcaraz earned his own break opportunity and didn't let Rublev escape. On an eight-stroke exchange, Alcaraz sprinted from one corner of the court to the other and, with a stomp of his right foot and a bit of a slide, he flicked a cross-court forehand winner. Oh, did he relish that one. Alcaraz spread his arms wide, pointed to his right ear and basked in the crowd's loud adulation, the noise bouncing off the underside of the stadium's closed roof. Rublev sat in his sideline chair, looked up at his guest box and made a sarcastic "OK" hand signal. Just 10 minutes later, that set belong to Alcaraz, who will face 2022 semifinalist Cam Norrie — the last British player in singles — on Tuesday for a berth in the final four. "I always said that it's just about belief in yourself. It doesn't matter that you are one-set-to-love down," Alcaraz said. "Tennis is a sport that can change in just one point. One point can change the match completely, turn around everything." The 61st-ranked Norrie, who played college tennis at TCU in Fort Worth, Texas, advanced with a 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (7), 6-7 (5), 6-3 win over qualifier Nicolas Jarry, who hit 46 aces. Norrie had a chance to close things out much earlier than he did but failed to convert a match point while ahead 6-5 in the third-set tiebreaker. Alcaraz is just 22 and already owns five Grand Slam trophies, the latest arriving in June at the French Open. He hasn't lost a match anywhere since April 20 against Holger Rune in the final at Barcelona. There have been lapses, of course, including when Alcaraz fell behind by two sets against No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the final at Roland Garros. Or when the Spaniard lost four points in a row after going up 5-3 in the opening tiebreaker against Rublev. He hasn't been as close-to-perfect as others over the past week: Sinner, No. 10 Ben Shelton and No. 22 Flavio Cobolli haven't dropped a set heading into their fourth-round contests.