The first half of the quarter finals of Wimbledon take place on the two show courts on Tuesday when we find out the identity of the opening semi-finals later in the week as we get to the real business end of the grass court major.
Three members of the top five in the world and the winner of the biggest warm up event for Wimbledon make up the men’s schedule on Tuesday while four outsiders will battle it out for semi-final spots in the women’s draw.
Centre Court
Jannik Sinner vs Daniil Medvedev
The opening match on the main court is a repeat of the Australian Open final as the world number one and winner of the first Grand Slam of the year, Jannik Sinner, takes on the Russian ace Daniil Medvedev who will be bidding to reach the last four here for a second year in a row.
Sinner has played some excellent stuff in this tournament so far and has seen off a couple of big servers in Matteo Berrettini and Ben Shelton so he should be fully tuned in for this clash and it is hard to see the top seed being beaten here. Even when Medvedev had him beat at 2-0 up in Melbourne the Italian still found a way to come out on top so you wonder what the Russian will be able to come up with that gives him a better chance here. The one thing he does have going for him is being the fresher of the two because his fourth round meeting with Grigor Dimitrov ended after eight games when the Bulgarian was injured but that is a small gain for Medvedev. I don’t see the Russian winning this but he is good enough to muddy the handicap waters but at the same time I wouldn’t be surprised if Sinner won easily. I’m happy to leave this one alone.
Jasmine Paolini vs Emma Navarro
Italian day continues on Centre Court in the second match of Tuesday when the French Open finalist Jasmine Paolini goes up against the rising American star Emma Navarro in what should be a really tasty quarter final.
Paolini has been in very good form in the last six weeks or so. That run to the French Open final was followed by a semi-final in Eastbourne and now she is in the last eight here. You could say that she is a little fortunate to be in this last eight clash though because Madison Keys was a double break up on her in the deciding set in the previous round but got injured at 5-2 and couldn’t complete a match she would surely have won without the injury. Navarro has had no such issues so far and she absolutely blew Coco Gauff away on Centre Court on Sunday. That was the second Grand Slam winner she has beaten in this tournament after dispatching with Naomi Osaka in the second round. Navarro has only dropped one set in the event so far and that was when she gained revenge for her Bad Homburg semi-final loss against Diana Shnaider. Navarro also leads the head to head between these two 3-0 so she has plenty going for her. The American is only being asked to give up 2.5 games here and that feels well within reach particularly when you consider that they went the distance in Miami earlier this year and Navarro still won by seven games.
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Court 1
Lulu Sun vs Donna Vekic
Someone will claim a place in a first Grand Slam semi-final in the opening match on Court 1 on Tuesday when the qualifier from New Zealand in Lulu Sun takes on a Donna Vekic who is most at home on a grass court.
Sun ended the hopes of Emma Raducanu in the previous round and she was comfortably the best player in that match. Her task now is to replicate that performance now that she is more in the spotlight having done what she did against a British hero on the main show court on Sunday. Vekic had a really good win over Paula Badosa in the fourth round on Sunday in a match which finished nearly eight hours after it all started after copious rain delays. That shows credit to her character but this one is different. That match had a 50:50 look to it but the Croatian is very much the warm favourite to win here. This is generally the conditions where the WTA players falter a touch so it will be interesting to see how Vekic comes out and starts this one. If she is positive and on the front foot then I would expect her to have too much for Sun but if she starts nervously and looking like she is feeling the pressure, this could be a long afternoon for her. I’m not in any rush to get stuck into this one I have to say.
Carlos Alcaraz vs Tommy Paul
The men’s match over on Court 1 on Tuesday sees the defending champion Carlos Alcaraz looking to take his title defence into the semi-final at least when he goes up against the Queens winner Tommy Paul in what looks a cracking contest.
This is actually the last two Queens winners battling it out here so we know that both have a good grass court pedigree and when you consider their previous meetings are 2-2 there is plenty of reason to think that this might be a lengthy affair. Paul has spoken about how he knows he has to be aggressive early in points against the Spaniard so you would think that the American will get into the match here, not least because he carries a stronger game than Frances Tiafoe, who took Alcaraz to five sets in the third round, and Ugo Humbert, who took him to four sets in the last round. Paul had to come through a couple of tight ones earlier in the tournament but he looks to be getting better the longer the competition has gone on. I don’t see Alcaraz giving this one up without a really good fight though so I think we’re in for a good one here and the 37.5 games line looks like one which can be covered. Three of their four previous matches have gone the distance and in two of those outings there have been a couple of tiebreaks. Just one tiebreak should be enough to cover this line in a four-set match and that feels very likely to me.
Tips
Back E.Navarro (-2.5 games) to beat J.Paolini for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with William Hill
Back her here:
Back C.Alcaraz vs T.Paul – Over 37.5 games for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Boylesports
Back it here:
