Wimbledon 2023 LIVE: Rybakina and Jabeur get the action underway on Centre, with Alcaraz and Medvedev to come… but up first is Sabalenka vs Keys
Follow Mail Sport’s live blog from Day 10 at Wimbledon, with Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and Elena Rybakina in action.
Host commentator
I shouldn’t have jinxed things…
Behar and Pavlasek break the Anglo-Dutch pairing in the third game, and consolidated their gains with a strong hold. They lead, 4-2 in the first set.
… in the first of the afternoon’s quarter-finals. Keys has been here before, whereas Sabalenka did one better in 2021, making it to the semi-finals. After missing out on the tournament last year, the Belarusian is out for blood.
The pair have met twice before, and share the spoils. This should be an excellent battle!
A handful of the singles players stepping out on the showcourts this afternoon have been out on the Aorangi courts warming up before their clashes, but the countdown to action starts now…
Being a mother is dull, but I would choose it every day over playing on Centre Court, says former British Number 1 Johanna Konta
Former British number one Johanna Konta has said being a mother is boring – but she would choose it every day over playing on Centre Court.
Konta, 32, called time on her career two years ago and gave birth to daughter Emmeline last September.
Despite playing invitational doubles – exhibition events pitting former professionals against one another – at Wimbledon with Caroline Wozniacki yesterday she revealed she would never come back full time.
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Murray and Venus are on serve against Krawietz and Puetz, the German number 10 seeded pair, and it’s 2-1 to the them in the opening set.
One court over on No 3, Koolhof and Skupski have made a similarly methodical start: they’re level 1-1 with Behar and Pavlasek. As the number one seeds, they should sweep aside their unseeded opponents, but the upsets keep coming…
IAN HERBERT: Forget the strawberries and cream, Wimbledon’s lack of solidarity for Ukraine is SHAMEFUL
It’s been terribly nice, as always. No one thinking twice about joining long queues for the £9.50 Pimms. Everyone reducing waste by recycling their blue plastic cups. And, amid the strawberries and cream, barely a trace of proper solidarity for the nation which should be at the beating heart of this Wimbledon.
The insipid words of Anne Keothavong, All-England Club board member and BBC pundit, on day one of the tournament encapsulated the anaemic – and frankly, pathetic – perspective on Ukrainians being forced to stomach Russians competing alongside them here. ‘It’s just something we have to learn to live with and move on,’ the former British No 1 said, as the topic was quickly dispensed with. ‘It’s not easy, for anyone.’
Russia was preparing a missile attacking Lviv at the time. Six died. Dozens were injured. But on the broadcasting platform in SW19, talk turned to the rather dire weather forecast for south-west London. Everyone moved on.
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Emma Raducanu warned by former world No 1 Victoria Azarenka not to be seduced by hangers-on
Former world number one Victoria Azarenka has warned Emma Raducanu not to be seduced by hangers-on as she tries to get her career back on track.
Azarenka, who reached the fourth round at Wimbledon, also suggested that the player was wrong to ditch coach Andrew Richardson, who guided her at the 2021 US Open and has been replaced by a succession of mentors since.
‘When Emma won the US Open, what I noticed at that time was that everybody latched onto her as if she was their friend, and I was thinking that they probably didn’t even know her a month ago.
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In her post-match press conference, she said of Svitolina: ‘I will root for her. Especially because we like each other as people. I told her at the net, I hope she wins this tournament. It’s tough to win a Grand Slam, but I know she wants this really bad. I’ll be rooting for her.’
MIKE DICKSON: Wildcard stitch-ups are par for the course in tennis… here’s how the system is abused
Those switching their attention to the Open golf next week may get to hear the name of Matthew Jordan, one of the 156 players who will tee off at Royal Liverpool.
After more discussions about the merits of wildcards at Wimbledon, he is an interesting comparison of how they do things in the partially equivalent event of another sport.
Jordan plays on the European Tour and has had a ranking in the top 200 before now, and this season he has had four top twenty finishes. He grew up playing at Hoylake, is well-known in the area and holds the course record. He knows every blade of grass on the links and ought to go well…
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They broke new ground in their home grand slam, but disappointly, Lumsden and Bains were no match for the force of Mertens and Hunter.
The Brits were quickly dispatched 6-2 6-1 on Court 2, with even the rain unable to shift their opponents’ dominance.
British fingers will stay crossed, however, as Jamie Murray prepares to step onto court in his men’s quarter-final in a matter of minutes.
Andrey Rublev struck a contemplative tone in his press conference after losing to Novak Djokovic in four sets, sharing how ‘grateful’ he was for the support of the Wimbledon crowd as a Russian player.
Competing this year under a neutral flag, Rublev has been one of a handful of Russian players that have made a public stance against the war in Ukraine, writing ‘No to War’ on a camera at a tournament in Dubai shortly after the invasion in February 2022.
‘Being here this year, I felt grateful,’ Rublev said in his presser. ‘I’m happy that I was able to give a really, really good two weeks of my tennis. I’m happy that I was able I think for the first time to did my best quarter-final so far, compared to all the rest of the quarters that I have done.
‘This one I feel proud of myself for the first time.
‘I felt really great support during these two weeks. Today, as well. It is like I was saying, to be from the country where I am, to have this support, it’s special.
‘I don’t know, I feel sometimes I don’t deserve it or something like that. To have it, I don’t know… I don’t know what you need to do to have this support. I’m really grateful for this.’
When asked if he felt guilty to be from Russia, Rublev said: ‘No. I mean, I don’t know what to say. I did so many statements. I think my opinion is very clear, so…
‘It’s not guilty. It’s more just the situation is terrible. Of course, you don’t wish this to anyone. You want these, I don’t know, terrible things to be able to finish as fast as possible for all the people in the world just to have a chance to have a good life.’
You cannot be serious! Yellow rubber duck named John QuackEnroe is revealed by Wimbledon as secret weapon for predicting when rain will strike
Wimbledon has spent millions of pounds on one of the most accurate weather kits in the world.
But despite the cutting edge technology, that can even predict downpours on individual courts its most valued tool is a bucket and rubber duck, called John QuackEnroe.
The paddling pool sits on the roof at SW19 and has an infrared camera on it so the team can watch QuackEnroe day and night to determine the type of rain.
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Things start at pace on Court No 1 and the action should keep coming thick and fast – Madison Keys and Aryna Sabalenka will kick off on the first showcourt, with Keys looking to harness the momentum that saw her end the fairytale run of 16-year-old starlet Mirra Andreeva. Australian Open champion Sabalenka is likely to prove a formidable opponent, however. The Belarusian has grown into this year’s competition, and her ferocious hitting has the power to blast a clear route for the number two seed straight to the final.
They’re followed by Daniil Medvedev against the American Christopher Eubanks, whose enjoying a sensational run at the competition this year. He’s reached a maiden quarter-finals off a terrific serve, and the super-tall opponents should tangle nicely – Medvedev has won dirty on more than one occasion during this year’s tournament.
On Centre, the day starts with a re-run of last year’s final, as Ons Jabeur looks to seek revenge against Elena Rybakina. Jabeur comes into the quarters after a barnstorming victory over number five seed Petra Kvitova, but Rybakina is nicely-rested: she was handed a walkover after the disappointing retirement of Beatriz Haddad-Maia.
Then, the blockbuster: Carlos Alcaraz versus Holger Rune. The 20-year-old starlets are the youngest duo to meet in the quarter-finals of the Open Era, and go way back – they first met partnering one-another at an under 14s tournament in 2017. The two top-10 players are well-matched, and the tie seems immaculately poised.
Elsewhere, there are British hopes in the doubles as Jamie Murray and Michael Venus and Neal Skupski and Wesley Koolhof both play their quarter-finals on the outdoor courts. Maia Lumsden and Naiktha Bains are currently a set and three games down to Elise Mertens and Storm Hunter in the women’s quarter-finals – but here’s hoping a brief rain delay swings the fightback their way.
Supermum Svitolina is inspired by a nation’s resilience: Wildcard Elina channels heartache in her native Ukraine to conquer world No 1 Iga Swiatek
The combination of motherhood and her country being at war seems to be acting as some kind of superpower for Elina Svitolina this fortnight.
It probably helps, too, that Wimbledon has done its own version of the Homes For Ukraine scheme, with crowds adopting the world number 76 as one of their own.
Altogether that proved too much for the world’s number one player, and now Svitolina is just two wins away from completing one of the most emotive triumphs in The Championships’ history.
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Hello and welcome to day 10 of this year’s Wimbledon Championships – and the second wave of singles quarter-finals after yesterday’s thrilling opening act.
Upsets rarely come any bigger than that handed to world number one Iga Swiatek by Elina Svitolina on Centre Court yesterday. The Ukrainian former world number three has emerged as a fan favourite in SW19, just six months after she gave birth to her daughter Skai, and Svitolina ably harnessed the roar of the crowd and her own mental toughness to push Swiatek to three sets.
A number of times during the clash, Swiatek appeared to collapse, dropping unnecessary points and engaging in an elaborate conversation with her sports psychologist during the break in play to close the roof. Svitolina had no such trouble, and through gritted teeth saw out a heart-lifting 7-5 6-7 (5-7) 6-2 victory for the ages.
Marketa Vondousova also upset the apple cart: the seed-slayer has blazed a trail through the tournament and her highest-ranked opponent so far, Jessica Pegula, offered limited opposition in the third set as the Czech player sprinted away with the tie.
Things were more straightforward on the men’s side of the draw: Novak Djokovic was forced to four sets by his daughter Tara’s favourite player, Andrey Rublev, but the Russian gradually ran out of steam as momentum swung heavily in the direction of the defending champion. Jannik Sinner is enjoying a deep run on English soil after his capable victory over the underdog Roman Safiullin, eventually dispatching him 6-4 3-6 6-2 6-2.
British hopes have been few and far between, but yesterday gave rise to the possibility of silverware in the doubles, as Anglo-Dutch pair Neal Skupski and Wesley Koolhof knocked out the titleholders Jordan Thompson and Max Purcell in the men’s doubles, and Jamie Murray and Michael Venus booked their place in the quarter-finals.
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