Novak Djokovic belatedly reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals after seeing off Hubert Hurkacz.
The seven-time champion's plans for a day off were scuppered by the strict 11pm curfew in SW19, meaning the match was halted on Sunday evening with Djokovic two sets to the good.
Upon returning to Centre Court, Djokovic was inconvenienced further when Polish 17th seed Hurkacz stole the third set.
But the 36-year-old hit back to register a 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (8-6) 5-7 6-4 victory and book a 14th quarter-final at the championships.
He said: "Big credit for Hubert for playing an amazing match, tough luck for him. he put up a great performance.
"Honestly, I don’t recall the last time I felt this miserable on returning games, due to his incredibly accurate and powerful serve.
"He’s got one of the best serves in the world and it’s so difficult to read it. Playing on the quickest surface it really favours the big servers so it was not really an enjoyable match for me."
Djokovic had not faced so much as a break point in his previous 53 service games, so a third tie-break seemed inevitable until Hurkacz forced two at 6-5 and the Serbian dumped the second into the net.
Hurkacz fended off two break points – the first he had faced since the second set, some 17 hours ago – at 3-3 in the fourth but when he slipped on the baseline at deuce, Djokovic converted the third.
It was the first time Hurkacz had dropped serve at these Championships and it proved enough to see the 23-time grand slam champion through to a meeting with Russian seventh seed Andrey Rublev in the last eight.
Carlos Alcaraz doing @carlosalcaraz things 🤯#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/QKYoZFrDV6
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 10, 2023
Carlos Alcaraz passed another test to reach the quarter-finals for the first time.
Having been pushed to four sets by Nicolas Jarry in the third round, the world number one had to fight back from a set down to see off former finalist Matteo Berrettini 3-6 6-3 6-3 6-3.
This was a meeting of the last two Queen's Club champions and undoubtedly a significant hurdle for Alcaraz, who is learning quickly on the surface and produced a very solid display.
He was second best in the opening set, though, as Berrettini dictated with his forehand, breaking the Alcaraz serve to lead 5-3.
The Italian, who missed Wimbledon last year with coronavirus, has struggled this season with a recurring abdominal injury, saying after beating Alexander Zverev on Saturday that he had spent days crying in bed and arrived in London doubting he would be able to play.
He was aiming to emulate countryman Jannik Sinner, who defeated Alcaraz at the same stage 12 months ago and is through to the last eight again.
There was a concerning moment during the first point of the second set when Berrettini slipped and fell heavily, with Alcaraz coming to check on him, but the 27-year-old soon picked himself up.
Berrettini had not dropped serve once during his first three matches but the tide began to turn when a sloppy game at 1-2 saw him broken to love.
Alcaraz pushed for another break early in the third set and got it with an athletic, arching smash on his sixth chance as Berrettini was just unable to shake off the tenacious Spaniard.
Berrettini certainly had his moments but Alcaraz has so many weapons to choose from and he was wearing down the popular Italian.
At 2-2 in the fourth set, proceedings were briefly halted for the roof to be closed with darkness falling.
And Alcaraz wasted little time booking his spot in the last eight on the resumption, becoming the youngest man to do so here since Nick Kyrgios in 2014.
"I knew it was going to be really tough, Matteo is a great player, he made the final here on grass," said Alcaraz.
"He’s playing great. It’s not easy after losing the first set. I knew I was going to have my chances. Something I’ve been working on is to stay focused and not lose my mind a little bit. That part I did great."
Now he will take on fellow 20-year-old Holger Rune in the first Wimbledon men’s singles quarter-final between players aged under 21 in the open era.
The Dane came back from a set down to defeat Grigor Dimitrov 3-6 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-4) 6-3.
World number three Daniil Medvedev eased into his maiden Wimbledon quarter-final after Jiri Lehecka was forced to retire injured.
The 27-year-old Russian was in control on Court One and had just gone two sets ahead at 6-4 6-2 when his Czech opponent pulled out.
Lehecka received treatment during a medical timeout at the end of the opening set but initially battled on in some discomfort before opting for a premature departure.
"I honestly did not (realise) until he retired," he said of Lehecka's injury.
"I saw that maybe his movement is a little bit restricted but the way he was throwing the ball I thought that it was not causing him enough trouble but then when he retired, I was like, 'OK, I see it different’.
"I feel sorry for Jiri. Hopefully he can recover fast and he has a lot more grand slams to come ahead of him."
Lehecka showed some touches of class but his performance was undermined by a series of errors and, ultimately, his fitness issue.
The 21-year-old struggled to deal with the power of Medvedev, with one of his returns of serve flying off court and landing in a spectator’s drink.
Both players were then forced to sit down during the sixth game of the second set due to a medical emergency in the crowd.
The affected spectator eventually walked out of the arena with the aid of medics following a delay of around 10 minutes.
Speaking about reaching the last eight at SW19 for the first time, Medvedev added: "It’s probably my fifth or sixth Wimbledon and I was not very successful but I never lost on this court.
"I feel sorry that all the quarters are going to be played on Centre (Court). I’m like, ‘can I just continue here?’.
"I’m really happy and looking forward to the next match."
Bounce-back @DaniilMedwed 🤷#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/DmPIka0Kc8
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 10, 2023
American Chris Eubanks stunned world number five Stefanos Tsitsipas to reach the quarter-finals of with the biggest knockout of his career.
The towering 27-year-old twice came from a set down to continue his fine run in London with a thrilling 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 3-6 6-4 6-4 victory in just over three hours.
His impressive win over two-time grand slam finalist Tsitsipas follows success over British number one Cameron Norrie and sets up a last-eight meeting with Medvedev.
"I feel like I'm living a dream right now," said Eubanks. "This is absolutely insane.
"When you paint all of the context – I’ve tried so much to block everything out and just focus on the next match – it’s surreal, it’s unbelievable.
"This has been a dream come true."
Eubanks, ranked 43rd in the world, had only won two grand slam matches prior to arriving at SW19.
He made an unconvincing start to the contest on Court Two but battled back and floored Tsitsipas – conqueror of Andy Murray – with 53 winners, including 13 aces.
Eubanks recently said he hated playing on grass but is currently enjoying a nine-match winning streak on the surface.
"Those words will never come out of my mouth for the rest of my career," he said.
"The grass and I, we’ve had a very strenuous relationship over the years but right now I think it’s my best friend."
The Knockout Blow 🥊@chris_eubanks96 broke with a brilliant backhand winner#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/fGHueYwY1F
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 10, 2023
