Daily Tennis Tips – Quarter Finals Edition

Former French Open champions Jelena Ostapenko and Barbora Krejcikova square off in an intriguing Wimbledon quarter-final.

Ostapenko boasts a 5-2 record against Krejcikova after winning the pair’s last three matches – most recently in the 2023 Birmingham Classic final on grass.

World No.14 Ostapenko has had a solid, if typically enigmatic, season to date and has crushed each of her opponents so far at Wimbledon, losing no more than five games to Ajla Tomljanovic, Daria Signur, Bernarda Pera and Yulia Putintseva.

Krejcikova has slipped to 32nd in the rankings in a campaign that has tanked since reaching the Australian Open quarter-finals.

The Czech arrived at Wimbledon on a 2-7 run but has achieved her best result at the tournament via a first-round marathon against Veronika Kudermetova and straight-sets wins over Katie Volynets, Jessica Bouzas Maneiro and in-form 11th seed Danielle Collins.

The latter win, in particular, gives Krejcikova genuine hope of an upset. But Ostapenko has the higher ceiling on the surface, a longer run of good form and the benefit of a significant rivalry edge.

World No.4 Elena Rybakina is the outright favourite to claim her second Wimbledon title, but Elina Svitolina shapes as a formidable quarter-final opponent as she chases a second straight semi at the tournament.

The head-to-head is locked two-all, though their only clash in the past three years was Rybakina’s 6-4 6-3 victory in the recent French Open’s Round of 16.

After a quarter-final loss at Roland Garros and a brief grass-court build-up, Rybakina has revived memories of her 2022 triumph at the All England Club by powering past Elena-Gabriela Ruse (6-3 6-1), Laura Siegemund (6-3 3-6 6-3), Caroline Wozniacki (6-0 6-1) and Anna Kalinskya (6-3 3-0 ret).

Svitolina, the 21st seed, played just one match on grass prior to Wimbledon but has been dominant since a three-set test in the first round against Magda Linette, overwhelming Jule Niemeier (6-3 6-4), 2022-23 runner-up Ons Jabeur (6-1 7-6) and Xinyu Wang (6-2 6-1).

Rybakina is 2-3 in grand slam quarter-finals, while Svitolina is 3-7. A $3.32 underdog, Svitolina sent Iga Swiatek packing last year and won’t be overawed by Rybakina’s Wimbledon-winning reputation. This shapes as one of the matches of the tournament so far.

World No.25 Lorenzo Musetti lines up in his first grand slam quarter-final against 13th seed Taylor Fritz, who is chasing his maiden semi-final appearance at a major.

Fritz has won two of the pair’s three encounters to date – in the first round of Wimbledon and in Davis Cup action in 2022 – but Musetti grabbed a recent 6-4 6-4 victory at the Monte-Carlo Masters.

Musetti is enjoying a fantastic grass season, reaching the semis in Stuttgart and the Queen’s Club final. He’s parlayed that momentum into four-set wins over Constant Lestienne, Francisco Comesana and Giuseppe Mpetshi, along with a five-set eclipse of Luciano Darderi in the second round.

But Fritz represents a massive step up in class. The big-serving American won the Eastbourne International, before beating Chris O’Connell and Alejandro Tabilo in straight sets either side of a four-set defeat of Arthur Rinderknech.

Fritz produced one of the biggest grand slam wins of his career in the fourth round, coming from two sets down to beat fourth seed Alexander Zverev 4-6 6-7 6-4 7-6 6-3. He has dropped just two games on serve throughout the tournament and sent down 68 aces.

You can only play who’s in front of you and he’s been in great touch for several weeks, but it’s been an undeniably soft draw for Musetti. Fritz is coming off a wonderful win over one of the best – and that serve shapes as too big of a weapon for the Italian.

Alex de Minaur is chasing the biggest win of his career in the Wimbledon quarter-finals against the incomparable Novak Djokovic.

Djokovic has a 2-1 advantage against de Minaur, but the Aussie livewire did bag a momentous upset at the United Cup in January before the Serbian legend took out their hard-fought Monte-Carlo Masters quarter-final.

De Minaur took just five games off Djokovic in their Australian Open Round of 16 encounter last year.

The ninth seed won the title at Den Bosch and has been relatively untroubled at Wimbledon, beating James Duckworth and Jaume Munar in straight sets, getting a third-round walkover and overwhelming Arthur Fils 6-2 6-4 4-6 6-3.

An injury scare on match point muted de Minaur’s celebrations in reaching a grand slam quarter-final for the third time.

Bouncing back from knee surgery after pulling out of his French Open quarter-final, seven-time champion Djokovic is showing few weaknesses. He beat Vit Kopriva in straight sets, Jacob Fearnley and Alex Popyrin in four, then demolished 15th seed Holger Rune 6-3 6-4 6-2.

Djokovic has lost just one of his last 39 matches at Wimbledon, while he has won 17 of his last 18 grand slam quarter-final matches. Those eye-watering stats alone emphasise the enormity of de Minaur’s task at hand.

De Minaur should be able to test Djokovic’s knee – which his opponents so far have been unable to do – though his own niggle is a concern. The wait for a maiden major semi-final is set to continue for the 25-year-old.