American Taylor Fritz reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals on Sunday after Jordan Thompson retired due to an injury that led the fifth seed 6-1, 3-0.
As Fritz progresses, this is the fifth consecutive major in which at least one American has made the quarterfinals. This is the longest winning streak for American men, six times in a row, from 2002 to the 2004 Australia Open.
“I was excited to play Jordan today, not the way I wanted to go through,” Fritz said. “That’s sad… he’s fighting here and playing the five setter.
Thompson, who arrived at the All-England club dealing with back issues, called for a medical timeout midway through the second set due to an obvious right thigh injury, and another three points decide to call it a day. Australians have previously retired in majors, but most recently the 2023 US opened to Botic van des Andschulp due to a leg injury. He was also forced to finish the 2021 Australian open match with Casperudo with a shoulder injury.
Fritz and Ben Shelton are the only Americans remaining in the men’s singles draw, winning straight sets on Saturday to advance to the 16th round. In the coming years, only two American men have reached the Wimbledon semi-finals. Sam Query in 2017 and John Isner in 2018.
Fritz, runner-up at the US Open last year, was 12-1 in Grass this season, winning the title in Stuttgart and Eastbourne. Since winning 12 tour-level grass matches in 1999, his 12 tour-level grass matches victory is an American victory over the season.
Fritz then faced Russia’s 17th seed Karen Khachanov, defeating Kamil Madzurzak 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 to reach the second Wimbledon quarterfinals.
“To be honest, it was a really great performance today – at least from my side,” Khachanov said.
Khachanov was a Grand Slam semifinalist at the US Open in 2022 and the Australian Open in 2023, and was a quarterfinalist at the All England Club four years ago.
Majchrzak, who was 109th, was playing his fourth match in the majors for the first time. He had lost six Grand Slams before Wimbledon and had been in a row.
The other men’s matches were two-time defending champion Carlos Alkaraz vs. No. 14 Andrei Lubrev and Nicholas Jarry vs. Cam Nolly.
ESPN research, Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
