Cristian Garin broke new ground in the most dramatic way possible on Monday at Wimbledon, where the Chilean engineered a stirring comeback victory against Alex de Minaur to reach his maiden Grand Slam quarter-final.
The World No. 43 raised his level to spectacular effect halfway through the pair’s fourth-round clash, recovering a two-sets-to-love deficit to complete a 2-6, 5-7, 7-6(3), 6-4, 7-6(10-6) win. After a slow start, the Chilean’s aggressive ballstriking began to penetrate the De Minaur defences from the third set onwards. Garin held his nerve to save two match points before prevailing in a tense deciding-set tie-break to cap a remarkable four-hour, 34-minute victory.
“Honestly, I don’t have any words right now,” said Garin in his on-court interview. “I just gave everything I have. It was a very tough fight. It was a battle. I think Alex is an incredible player, for me one of the best on grass.
“I am exhausted. I just gave my best, and I think in the fifth set it was for him or for me. We both fought a lot… Nobody knows what [can] happen in the tie-break. I tried to be aggressive, went to the net, and tried to be aggressive with my serve as well. I think that was the key.”
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