Norrie wins tough five-set marathon to reach last eight

Sole Briton in singles now faces champion Carlos Alcaraz

- ANDY SIMS

Cameron Norrie kept the British flag flying at Wimbledon by taking down qualifier Nicolas Jarry in a five-set marathon to reach the quarterfinals.

The 29-year-old led by two sets and had a match point in the third, but was taken to a fifth by the 6ft 7in Chilean.

However, Norrie held his nerve in the decider and did not drop serve all day in a 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (7), 6-7 (5), 6-3 victory over a gruelling four hours and 27 minutes.

Norrie, a semifinalist in 2022, is now only the third British man to reach the last eight more than once in the last 50 years, after Tim Henman and Andy Murray.

He is also the last home player left in either draw after Sonay Kartal’s defeat to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova earlier on Sunday.

It is a fine achievement for a player who had slipped from eight in the world to 91 after a tough couple of years, and who is now on the verge of a return to the top 50.

He will have his work cut out to get much further, though, with two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz his quarterfinal opponent.

Alcaraz came through a ferocious fourth-round firefight against a red-hot Andrey Rublev to win 6-7(5) 6-3 6-4 6-4 on Centre Court and keep his bid for a third successive Wimbledon title on track.

The Spanish second seed stuttered in his opening three rounds but found his best form to eventually subdue an inspired opponent who once again came up short against the very best.

"Andrey is one of the most powerful players we have on tour and is so aggressive with the ball. It's really difficult to face him, he forces you to the limit on each point," said Alcaraz. He is bidding to become only the fourth man to win back-to-back French Open and Wimbledon titles multiple times.