By Shrivathsa SridharLondon — Flavio Cobolli continued the best Grand Slam run of his career on Monday by defeating Australian fifth seed Alex de Minaur 7-5 7-6(4) 6-3 and returning to the Wimbledon quarterfinals just weeks after his French Open runner-up finish.The ninth seed’s battling display on Court One put him in the Wimbledon quarterfinals for a second consecutive year, and he will have a good chance to continue his surge with a wildcard looming in the next round.Cobolli will play the winner of the fourth-round encounter between British hopeful Arthur Fery and Bulgarian veteran Grigor Dimitrov.“I’ve been feeling tired on the tour, so I’m very happy to reach the quarterfinals in three sets because it’s important to stay with energy for the next round,” Cobolli said.“This year has been so hot; we saw in the crowd [people struggling]. Thanks for coming today. Thanks for staying. I appreciate it a lot. I’m so happy and proud of myself.”The 24-year-old Italian took charge of the first meeting between top-10 players in the men’s draw this year by forcing a backhand error to break in the 11th game of the opening set, which he pocketed in 50 min.“This year has been so hot; we saw in the crowd [people struggling]. Thanks for coming today. Thanks for staying. I appreciate it a lot. A relaxed Cobolli chatted with fans during a break in play when a spectator fell ill in the second set and with De Minaur during another halt before he reeled off three games consecutively from 2-5 down to double his advantage via a tiebreak.“There’s a lot of respect [between us]. I love him; I love how he plays,” said Cobolli.“I don’t love to play with him. But we had a little chat during the break, and he told me I have to expect another thing like that to happen there because it’s really hot. We’re lucky to finish with only two stoppages.”The big hitting that helped Cobolli navigate tense moments at the end of the second set helped him claw back from 0-2 in the next set and recover another break in the sixth game to finally see off his determined opponent.Asked if he plans to watch the encounter between Fery and Dimitrov, Cobolli said he will beat the heat with ice cream and look forward to a meal cooked by his father instead.Italy’s Jasmine Paolini ended Alexandra Eala’s trailblazing Wimbledon run in the fourth round with a 6-4 4-6 6-3 victory.The 21-year-old left-hander Eala is the first player from the Philippines to go so far in a Grand Slam, and she pushed the 2024 runner-up hard throughout an absorbing contest.Thirteenth seed Paolini, whose participation at Wimbledon was in doubt with a foot injury, started fast and surged into a 4-1 lead before Eala began to find her feet.Eala has captivated Wimbledon crowds with her bubbly personality and free-flowing game, which accounted for defending champion Iga Swiatek on Saturday.With warm crowd support on Centre Court and 8,000 fans watching back home in the PhilSports Arena in Manila, she hit back strongly to take the second set as errors began to flow from the Paolini racket.The match was poised on a knife-edge going into the decider, but Paolini got the break of serve to lead 5-3 and then finished the job in the next game as Eala sent a return wide. Reuters