Perhaps there should be no surprise that a 37-year-old with a suspect right knee would be trampled into the Wimbledon Centre Court dust by a 21-year-old force of nature.

As a precocious 12-year-old tennis novice, Barbora Krejcikova had scribbled into her notebook that her ambition was to win the French Open.

A month ago, Italian sport fans may have thought they would be seeing their team defend their European Championship title in soccer this weekend – but they will have other reasons to cheer as two of their tennis stars stand on the brink of history.

Defending Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz returned to the semi-finals with an enthralling comeback but there will be no blockbuster showdown with Jannik Sinner after the world number one was dragged the distance and dumped out.

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

Emotions ran high for Novak Djokovic as he angrily lashed out at Wimbledon fans following his three-set demolition job over young Dane Holger Rune in the fourth round, while it was game over for a previously indestructible Alexander Zverev.

Taylor Fritz punched a hole in Alexander Zverev’s perfect serving record at this year’s Wimbledon by producing a storming comeback from two sets down to topple the German fourth seed with a 4-6 6-7(4) 6-4 7-6(3) 6-3 victory to reach the quarter-finals.

Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz and world number one Jannik Sinner stayed on track for a blockbuster Wimbledon showdown by reaching the quarter-finals, while women’s second seed Coco Gauff was sent tumbling out.

Emma Raducanu is out of Wimbledon after being hampered by injury in the deciding set of her fourth-round match against New Zealand qualifier Lulu Sun.

Top seed Iga Swiatek crashed out of Wimbledon in the biggest shock of this year’s Championships so far but Novak Djokovic avoided joining her through the exit door despite another below-par performance.

Last year’s Wimbledon semi-finalist Daniil Medvedev endured lengthy rain delays and a fightback from unseeded German Jan-Lennard Struff for a 6-1 6-3 4-6 7-6(3) victory to reach the fourth round on Saturday.

Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz was stretched to the limit en route to the Wimbledon fourth round but world number one Jannik Sinner, his likely semi-final opponent, was unruffled as he advanced in ominous fashion at rainy Wimbledon on Friday.