Sinner in the quarters after Dimitrov withdrew, who was ahead two sets to nil

It was unbelievable what happened on the Wimbledon centre court: Grigor Dimitrov was leading, against all odds, against world number one Jannik Sinner, who was not at his best due to a fall in the first game of the match and subsequent discomfort in his right elbow. The Bulgarian was leading 6-3, 7-5, then in the third set - in which Jannik had resumed with more vigour, after the interruption for the roof closure - at 2-1 on serve he made an ace with which he grabbed 2-2... and sat down on the ground, bringing his hand to his pectoral, in tears. The medics intervened, Sinner went over to him. Dimitrov walked off the court and when he returned a few minutes later, he announced, crying, that he was retiring. Sinner therefore made it to the quarters, certainly not in the way he would have liked: 'I don't consider this a victory at all... it's just an unfortunate moment that we all witnessed," he said in the on-court interview. On Wednesday he will play Ben Shelton, who got the better of Lorenzo Sonego in the afternoon.

In the morning, a great Flavio Cobolli beat a tough Marin Cilic in four sets and, for the first time in history, reached the quarters of the world's most prestigious tournament: it ended 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 7-6 after three hours and 25 minutes. Gritty, motivated, solid, the Roman tennis player fought and overcame his opponent, born in 1988, who appeared more sluggish and less mobile in the first two sets, then reinvigorated in the third (in which he had three set points at 6-5, before closing in the tiebreak).

Flavio showed the character and personality that we know by now, when in the fourth set he went down 4-3 with his own serve: he immediately counter-breaked Cilic by closing the game with a cross-backhand shot, with which he 'called' the crowd. Then in the subsequent tiebreak, on 3-all, he came out on top and closed the accounts 7-3.

The Roman is therefore living his golden moment, showing himself capable of handling delicate moments at best. For a large part of the match, he managed to defuse his opponent's powerful serve (he collected 19 aces); his serve accompanied him well, apart from the 'painful' betrayal in the tiebreak of the third set (the 7-4 point was one of his double faults). Wins alternating with short balls and effective defence on the Croatian's deep balls did the rest. His father in tears, the embrace with his brother and friend Edoardo Bove... a tournament he will not forget, at 23 years of age on 6 May. Now he finds Novak Djokovic who has beaten de Minaur.

Too bad for Lorenzo Sonego, defeated in four sets by Shelton. The Italian had made a good start by winning the first 6-3, but then the American put on the fifth gear and brought home the second 6-1 while Lorenzo dropped noticeably. The third set was hard fought, neck and neck until the tiebreak when Shelton raised the level by hitting one winner after another. In the fourth set, Sonego attempted to storm back at 2-2, but was unable to transform the break point he had secured and had to surrender his weapons 7-5.