Cristian Garin was done for. The crowd was running on fumes. It had taken four hours and 34 minutes but finally – he had reached his first Wimbledon quarter-final.
The first man to recover from two sets down at this year's Championships
Take a bow, Cristian Garin 👏#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/EdEi8dDBz3
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 4, 2022
Garin had just beaten Alex de Minaur, the No.19 seed and the form grass court player of the two, 2-6, 5-7, 7-6(3), 6-4, 7-6(6). And he could not quite believe it.
"It's so special – It's a dream for me"
It's fair to say Cristian Garin has earned a lot of new fans after his epic fourth round victory 🇨🇱#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/sTWuhQQlf7
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 4, 2022
“I don’t have any words right now,” he said, still panting from the effort. “It was a very tough fight; it was a battle. I think Alex is an incredible player. For me, one of the best on grass.”
And then he stooped and puffed out his cheeks. “I don’t know…. I am exhausted.
“I just gave my best. The fifth set was for me, for him – we both fight a lot on the tie-break. Nobody knows what will happen in the tie-break. But I tried to be aggressive, I went to the net, be aggressive with my serve. I think that was the key.”
In the parlance of the football pundits, it was a “game of two halves”. De Minaur won the first half and Garin won the second.
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