Everything you need to know about the last 8 of Wimbledon 2024!
What a fantastic year it has been at Wimbledon so far.
Despite the wet weather, excellent work from the ground staff has ensured that the play on court has remained red hot!
In the men's draw, the three favourites remain in the hunt for the Wimbledon crown, but with some tricky fixtures, will all three still be in the running come the semi-finals?
For the women, most of the favourites have fallen, and today sees some of their conquerors take to court.
Centre Court
Jannik Sinner (1) vs Daniil Medvedev (5)
Start time: 13.30
H2H: Sinner 5/ Medvedev 6
The first of the quarter-finals pits two of today’s greatest rivals against one another. Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev have been part of some phenomenal matches in their relatively short rivalry, most notably their Australian Open final earlier this year, that saw Sinner prevail as Champion.
Despite leading their head-to-head, Medvedev has not won in the pair’s last 5 meetings. Sinner is the current World number one and, with such dominance in their last 5 meetings, I struggle to see a positive result for Medvedev here.
Sinner is one of the best grass courters in the world and I envisage a closely fought but in the end reasonably routine victory for the current best player in the World.
Sinner in 4.
Jasmine Paolini (7) vs Emma Navarro (19)
Start time: 15.30
H2H: Paolini 0/Navarro 3
An intriguing meeting awaits us following the conclusion of Sinner and Medvedev on Centre Court, between French Open finalist Jasmine Paolini and talented young American Emma Navarro.
Paolini is in the form of her life after reaching the final of the Roland Garros. The Italian has now gone from having never won a match at Wimbledon to playing in the quarter-finals. Normally a clay court lover, Paolini seems to have found her groove on grass beating Bianca Andreescu and Madison Keys on her way to a meeting with Navarro.
Despite this, Navarro has some equally impressive scalps this year at Wimbledon including Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff. In addition to this Navarro will go into the match as the favourite holding a 3-0 lead against Paolini in their previous meetings.
Some may argue that Paolini got slightly lucky against Keys in the last 16 that an injury ended her tournament at 5-5 in set 3. Navarro on the other hand has been thoroughly dominant en route to the quarter-finals.
Navarro will likely have too much for Paolini and will win reasonably convincingly.
Navarro in 2.
Court 1
Lulu Sun (Q) vs Donna Vekic
Start time: 13.00
H2H: First meeting
The first match on court 1 pits the conquer of Emma Raducanu against the winner of one of the matches of the tournament in Donna Vekic. The two players have both achieved their best ever results at Wimbledon in 2024, and have done so with completely different styles.
Sun is a consistent player who may not hit the ball as hard as other players in the WTA but makes up for this with ruthless accuracy and a very good net game.
Vekic on the other hand is one of the most powerful hitters on the tour and prefers to go hard from the baseline. All the signs, including experience, lean towards Vekic, but Sun has already beaten some big hitters in Raducanu and Zheng Qinwen in this tournament.
I think Sun’s consistency will wear down Vekic and she’ll win a closely fought contest.
Sun in 3.
Carlos Alcaraz (3) vs Tommy Paul (12)
Start time: 14.15
H2H: Alcaraz 2/ Paul 2
Our second court 1 quarter-final sees the defending champion, Carlos Alcaraz take on this year’s Wimbledon dark horse, Tommy Paul.
This is a tougher match to call than people might think. Tommy Paul has been one of the most consistent players on tour this year and has snuck under a lot of people’s radar. His dominant victory at Queen’s, just before Wimbledon, demonstrated that he is an exceptional grass court player, capable of competing against anyone on the surface.
But how will he fair against a player of Alcaraz’s calibre?
Well, as you can see, the pair are actually level in their head-to-head meetings, of their three meetings in 2023, Alcaraz won two but their meetings seem to normally go the distance.
I see this encounter ending in a similar manor. Paul’s movement and consistency will help him stay in the points against Alcaraz who has looked vulnerable at points this year.
I’m going to go with a very bold prediction that Paul will upset Alcaraz in 5 sets.
Paul in 5.
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