Daniil Medvedev defeated Christopher Eubanks in the 2023 Wimbledon quarterfinal, but he was lucky to avoid disqualification.
Christopher Eubanks has been absolutely sensational at this year's Wimbledon, putting together his best run ever on the Grand Slam level. It's been generally a great season for the American who started the year outside of the Top 100 on the ATP Tour, and he's on his way to being a Top 32 player by the end of it, guaranteeing him seeding at the home Grand Slam.
He booked a spot in the quarterfinal by beating Stefanos Tsitsipas in what was a stunning upset. After the match, Eubanks talked about how Coco Gauff and Naomi Osaka encouraged him when he used to practice with them back home in the United States. Until recently, he didn't really believe it himself, but we're seeing the fruits of him starting to believe right now.
But he faced a difficult challenge in Medvedev, who lost a chance to become the World No. 1 after the event, but still obviously wants to win the trophy. The opening set saw Medvedev play really well, taking it 6-4. The Russian served better and generally played one of the most impressive sets at this year's event. He had 16 winners and only 1 unforced error, which is absolutely incredible.
Eubanks wasn't bad by any means as he had more winners than Medvedev but also a few too many errors to get it done. Things flipped in the second set, which Eubanks won as dominantly as somebody has ever won a set against Medvedev.
An incredibly masterful performance from the American who was still bombarding winners against Medvedev, whose style of play didn't really work, it was too passive. The third set continued the fantastic play of Eubanks, who was hitting as well as anybody at this event.
He was totally in the zone, as his level didn't drop off. On the other hand, Medvedev was all over the place, not happy with what was happening on the court. In the eighth game of the set, he even accidentally hit one of the camera operators and argued with the umpire after receiving a violation.
However, the Russian was really lucky to avoid disqualification, as the incident was similar to what we've seen at this year's Roland Garros when Miyu Kato accidentally hit one of the ball girls. He eventually lost the second set 4-6 and faced a one-set deficit.
The 4th set was an incredible level from Medvedev who pretty much didn't drop any points on his serve and got back into the zone. He won six service games by dropping only one point on his serve. On return, Medvedev had a few break points but couldn't use them and the set had to be decided in a tie-break.
The incredible level ultimately allowed Medvedev to win the 4th set 7-4 in the tie-break and send it into a decider. An incredible performance from the Russian, with 10 aces and 15 winners, and only one unforced error.
Unfortunately for fans of upsets and American fans, Eubanks wasn't able to keep his high level in the fifth set. He lost his serve in the opening game after making three unforced errors and hitting a doubles fault, and he could never recover the deficit.
On the other hand, the third seed kept his level high to win the match 6-4, 1-6, 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-1, and reach his maiden semifinal at Wimbledon. In the semifinals, Medvedev will take on either Carlos Alcaraz or Holger Rune, who are facing off in the youngest Wimbledon quarterfinal ever.
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