Alcaraz, Sinner into Wimbledon quarters, on collision course for semis

Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz and top-ranked Jannik Sinner are one match away from another high-stakes meeting in the Wimbledon semifinals.

Both men reached the quarterfinals on Sunday as Alcaraz held off an attempted comeback by Ugo Humbert to win 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 on Centre Court. Sinner then beat Ben Shelton 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (9) on No. 1 Court after saving four set points in the third set.

Alcaraz beat Sinner in five sets in the French Open semifinals in June en route to his first title at Roland Garros and the two would meet again in the last four if they win their next matches. Alcaraz will play the winner between No. 12 Tommy Paul and Roberto Bautista Agut, while Sinner faces No. 5 Daniil Medvedev, who advanced when No. 10 Grigor Dimitrov retired with an apparent leg injury while trailing 5-3 in the first set.

Dimitrov had led 3-0 but appeared to hurt himself when he slipped on the grass. He tried to keep playing after a medical timeout before retiring.

In women's doubles, Ottawa's Gabriela Dabrowski and partner Erin Routliffe of New Zealand advanced with a win over Russians Kamila Rakhimova and Irina Khromacheva 7-6 (4), 3-6, 7-5 in the second round.

Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., and partner Ena Shibahara of Japan trailed Czechia's Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend of the United States 6-2, 3-2 when play was suspended in the Round of 16 match.

Emma Raducanu also needed a medical timeout after a slip early in the third set against qualifier Lulu Sun and went on to lose 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 on Centre Court. Raducanu, the 2021 U.S. Open champion, was the last British player left in either the men's or women's tournaments but had pulled out of playing mixed doubles with Andy Murray on Saturday because of a sore wrist.

Alcaraz's match against Humbert had seemed all but over when the Spaniard clinched the second set by chasing down several seemingly out-of-reach shots on set point, even falling over after hitting one forehand and quickly getting back up to get to the next ball.

Asked to describe his play on that point, Alcaraz just said: "Unbelievable, I guess."

Alcaraz avoids 5th set

Humbert nearly staged a surprising comeback and threatened to take the match into a fifth set when he held three straight break points for a 5-3 lead in the fourth. But Alcaraz came back to win that game with the help of a couple of aces, then broke for a 6-5 lead by hitting a deep forehand winner.

He set up match point with one of his delicate forehand drop shots and converted it with a service winner.

Sinner had to come from 4-1 down in the third set and held for 5-5 after wrapping his racket behind his back and hitting the ball between his legs to get it over the net, then followed it up with a forehand passing shot to clinch the game.

"That was just luck," Sinner said about his shot.

Sinner then saved one set point at 6-5 and three more in the tiebreaker before converting his second match point when the hard-serving Shelton double-faulted.

Shelton was trying to reach his first Wimbledon quarterfinal but was coming off three straight five-set wins, including one over Denis Shapovalov that finished on Saturday.

Earlier, French Open runner-up Jasmine Paolini reached her first Wimbledon quarterfinal when Madison Keys had to retire with a leg injury at 5-5 in the third set of their fourth-round match. Donna Vekic also advanced after beating Paula Badosa 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 in a stop-start match on No. 2 Court that was interrupted several times because of rain. Vekic will also be playing in her first Wimbledon quarterfinal, in her 10th appearance at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament.

Paolini next meets No. 19 Emma Navarro, who defeated reigning U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-3 in the day's last match. The second-seeded Gauff's exit comes the day after No. 1 Iga Swiatek lost and leaves just two of the top 10 seeded women in the bracket: No. 4 Elena Rybakina, the 2022 champion, and No. 7 Paolini.