Third seed Daniil Medvedev curtailed American debutant Christopher Eubanks’ extraordinary Wimbledon adventure as he weathered a ferocious storm to come through their quarterfinal 6-4, 1-6, 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-1 on Wednesday.
Medvedev took the opening set but was blown completely off course for the next two as unseeded Eubanks unleashed a barrage of first-strike tennis that stunned the Russian and had the Court One crowd roaring its approval.
Medvedev clung on stubbornly, however, and as the fire in the Eubanks racket began to fade he took charge to reach the semi-finals at the grasscourt slam for the first time.
He will face top seed Carlos Alcaraz for a place in Sunday’s final.
“I am just happy to be in the semi-finals,” Medvedev said on court after winning a fifth-set decider for only the fourth time in his career, having lost 10.
“There was a moment in the match where I completely lost the game itself and he played well, I started to sink, I started to do a lot of mistakes, not serving well enough.
“In the third set I started to build something, not lose it 6-1 again and starting from the tiebreak (in the fourth), I managed to play amazing.”
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The 27-year-old Eubanks, who stunned British number one Cameron Norrie and took out fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas en route to the last eight, looked edgy early on and successive double-faults gifted Medvedev a decisive break in the first set.
But once he loosened up his long limbs and started middling the ball he entered a purple patch that had Medvedev rocking.
Eubanks used his sledgehammer forehand to break the Medvedev serve to lead 3-1 in the second set -- beaming broadly and imploring the crowd for more noise.
They duly obliged as Eubanks began smacking service returns straight to the feet of Medvedev and demonstrating a razor-sharp net game that many thought had long gone out of fashion.
Medvedev looked bewildered and out of ideas as Eubanks kept swinging for the hills, landing blow after blow.
A rampant Eubanks broke Medvedev’s serve at the start of the third set and won seven successive games in what felt like the blink of an eye.
Medvedev looked close to boiling point as he whacked a ball dangerously close to the fans, argued with umpire Damien Dumusois and received a warning.
Eubanks looked set to emulate American great John McEnroe who reached the semis on his Wimbledon debut in 1977 but Medvedev gained traction in the fourth as the fizz went out of his opponent’s game and he comfortable won the tiebreak.
Eubanks cut a dejected figure in the deciding set as his dream faded away and the end came quickly.
His run may be over but the 27-year-old former Georgia Tech student left the court to a huge ovation, making a heart gesture to the fans before disappearing.
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