Jasmine Paolini ended the dream Wimbledon run of Alexandra Eala and dashed the hopes of a nation on Monday.
Eala’s march to the fourth round, after her shock victory over defending champion Iga Świątek, had captured the imagination of almost the entire 120 million population of the Philippines.
Sports arenas around the country hosted watch parties for thousands of supporters to cheer on the 21-year-old, who had broken new ground for her nation just by winning a match here.
One, near Manila, opened its doors four hours ahead of the local scheduled start time so fans could secure their seats.
But the parties ultimately fell flat as it was 13th seed Paolini, watched by Formula One star and fellow Italian Kimi Antonelli, who steered her way into the quarter-finals after a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win.
Roger Federer was also in the Royal Box but Eala, who trained at the Rafael Nadal Academy as a youngster, seemed to suffer an early bout of stage fright.
Her first service game began with a double-fault, while another came courtesy of a serve so wide it hit the net post.
Paolini, a runner-up in 2024, was a break up and serving for the set when Eala finally settled and landed her first blow.
But Paolini punished one too many Eala second serves to break again and take the opening set.
Breaks for both players came and went at the start of the second and it was Eala who came out on top, after shrugging off an awkward-looking slip on the baseline, to level the match.
A deciding set of bludgeoning baseline rallies swung Paolini’s way when, at 3-4 down, Eala double-faulted again at precisely the wrong time.
One long forehand later and Paolini was serving for the match, which she secured when an Eala return drifted wide to end an enthralling two-hour, 21-minute contest.
Paolini will face Marta Kostyuk, who beat Ashlyn Krueger 6-4, 6-4, in the last eight.
Centre Court could see its first backflip on Saturday if the popular Ukrainian goes all the way.
Kostyuk trained as a competitive gymnast for seven years when she was younger and celebrates big tournament wins with a backward somersault.
“I have some people, the volunteers, in the restaurant who are telling me ‘can you do a backflip the next time you win a match?’,” she said.
“I’m like ‘guys, I save it for the only moment I win my first grand slam’. So hopefully.”
