Fifth seed Daniil Medvedev edged out world number one Jannik Sinner in a grinding five-set battle to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals for the second successive year on Tuesday.

A strange match full of momentum shifts and lulls was absorbing rather than gripping but Medvedev did not care as he triumphed 6-7(7), 6-4, 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-3 on a covered Centre Court.

It snapped Medvedev’s five-match losing sequence to Sinner and avenged his bitter defeat by the Italian in this year’s Australian Open final when he squandered a two-set lead.

Medvedev will face Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-final. Alcaraz won the battle of the two most recent Queen’s Club champions as the Spaniard edged closer to winning a second successive title here with an enthralling 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 quarter-final victory over American Tommy Paul.

Paul conjured some breathtaking shot-making during the first two sets and kept drawing roars of approval from the Court One crowd while making life uncomfortable for the third seed.

However, any hopes he might have harboured of ending his country’s 21-year-wait for a men’s grand slam champion at the All England Club this weekend were eventually snuffed out as the 21-year-old Alcaraz produced the goods on the crunch moments to run away with the final two sets.

After being kept on court for just over three hours, the third seed won his 12th match in a row at the grasscourt major when Paul swiped the ball wide.

Sun halted

Lula Sun’s extraordinary Wimbledon journey ground to a halt in the quarter-finals as New Zealand’s 123rd-ranked qualifier was beaten 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 by experienced Croatian Donna Vekic on a soggy day.

The victory meant Vekic reached her maiden grand slam semi-final and became only the second woman from her nation to do so at the All England Club, as she matched Mirjana Lucic’s 1999 feat.

She will face seventh seed Jasmine Paolini next. Paolini blazed past American Emma Navarro 6-2, 6-1 becoming the first Italian woman to make the Wimbledon semi-finals.

The 28-year-old’s victory ensured she eclipsed compatriots Camila Giorgi (2018), Francesca Schiavone (2009), Silvia Farina Elia (2003) and Laura Golarsa (1989), who had all reached the quarter-finals at the grasscourt grand slam in the Open era.

Sun saved three breakpoints under the Court One roof and broke for a crucial 6-5 advantage before digging herself out of a hole again to seize the opening set on serve with the most delicate of drop shots.

The left-hander surrendered her serve in the eighth game of the next set before Vekic made a flurry of double faults while serving for the set, only to regain her composure and draw level in the match with another break.

The match turned on its head when Vekic broke in the third set following a double fault from Sun’s racquet.