Daniil Medvedev has finally put paid to the wonderful Wimbledon adventures of Christopher Eubanks, but only after the unseeded break-out American star gave the Russian a scare in the quarter-finals.
The No.3 seed Medvedev, who’s into the first Wimbledon semi-final of his career, had to come from two sets to one down to finally prevail 6-4 1-6 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-1 under the No.1 Court roof on Wednesday.
Medvedev, the 2021 US Open champion, stayed on course for his second grand slam title, but only after making a sterling mid-match recovery following a period where the monster-serving 2.01m American completely blew him away.
“There was a moment in the match I completely lost the game itself and he started playing really well,” admitted Medvedev, who had looked a bit lost as Eubanks, who crashed down 17 aces, kept risking everything with his huge blows.
But Medvedev doused the fire to win a crucial fourth set tie-break, after which it proved fairly plain sailing for him against an increasingly deflated-looking opponent to book his place, either against Carlos Alcaraz or Holger Rune in Friday’s semi-finals, in just under three hours.
Eubanks had arrived at SW19 with just two grand slam wins and a deep dislike of playing on grass, although his first title on the surface in Mallorca last month had begun to change his mind.
Then he knocked out British No.1 Cameron Norrie and fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in earlier rounds – not to mention Australia’s last man standing Chris O’Connell – admitting that the surface was becoming his “best friend”.
And that’s certainly how it looked after he roared back from a disappointing start, cheered on from his players’ box by his friend Coco Gauff, with two blistering mid-match sets.