London: U.S. Open runner-up Taylor Fritz moved into the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the third time in four years on Sunday, advancing when his injured opponent, Jordan Thompson, quit while trailing 6-1, 3-0 after 41 minutes.
The unseeded Thompson’s movement and power were clearly compromised. The Australian entered the match with back and leg issues and left the court for a medical timeout in the second set Sunday, then stopped after trying to play for three more points.
“It’s obviously not the way that I want to go through,” the No. 5-seeded Fritz said. “It’s just sad. … Respect to him for coming out. His body’s not right.”
For Fritz, it was a shorter workday after playing a pair of five-setters and one four-setter earlier in the tournament.
Now the American will meet No. 17 seed Karen Khachanov of Russia on Tuesday for a berth in the semifinals — a round neither has reached at the All England Club.
Khachanov beat Kamil Majchrzak 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 Sunday.
“To be honest, today was a really great performance — at least from my side,” said Khachanov, who finished with more than twice as many winners as unforced errors, 44-21.
The 109th-ranked Majchrzak was playing in a fourth-round match at a major for the first time. He was on a six-match Grand Slam losing streak before Wimbledon.
Khachanov has been a Grand Slam semifinalist twice, at the U.S. Open in 2022 and the Australian Open in 2023. Fritz made it that far for the first time when he got to the final at Flushing Meadows in September before losing to No. 1 Jannik Sinner.
What else happened at Wimbledon on Sunday?Other men’s matches later were two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz vs. No. 14 Andrey Rublev, and Nicolas Jarry vs. Cam Norrie. The women’s fourth-rounders on the Sunday schedule were No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka vs. No. 24 Elise Mertens, No. 13 Amanda Anisimova vs. No. 30 Linda Noskova, Sonay Kartal vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and lucky loser Solana Sierra vs. Laura Siegemund.
Who plays at the All England Club on Monday?The quarterfinals will be set after Monday’s play, which leads off at Centre Court with 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic against No. 11 Alex de Minaur at 1:30 p.m. local time (8:30 a.m. ET). They were supposed to face each other in last year’s quarterfinals at Wimbledon, but de Minaur was forced to withdraw before the match with a hip injury. That’s to be followed by No. 7 Mirra Andreeva vs. No. 10 Emma Navarro, who eliminated 2024 champion Barbora Krejcikova in the third round, and then No. 1 Jannik Sinner vs. No. 19 Grigor Dimitrov. Others in action: Iga Swiatek, Ben Shelton and Marin Cilic.
