Elina Svitolina, a proud Ukrainian, is being powered at this Wimbledon by emotional forces. The love from her country, the goodwill from her sport and the wave of support for her cause are all making the odyssey of this new tennis mum on a comeback crusade one of sport’s most vital stories of 2023.

You just know if Iga Swiatek wasn’t opposing Svitolina on Centre Court today she would be rooting for her friend, whose “good values” she salutes.

Svitolina, for her part, calls the Polish world No.1 “a great champion and a great person doing everything in her power in her support of Ukrainians”.

So, huge mutual respect and admiration underpin this quarter-final. Nobody knows better than Svitolina that, compared to the realities of life back home, it's only a game of tennis; but she also knows that every step closer she gets to being the first Ukrainian to play the singles final of this great tournament means something valuable to her compatriots.

So when she felt she was underperforming against Victoria Azarenka in her titanic last-16 win, she felt “upset” and scolded herself. “(I) just told myself I have to fight, to give everything here. This mindset really pushed me through because I have no right to complain.”

It's a powerful motivation, but Swiatek is shielded by a champion’s steel that was never more in evidence than against Olympic gold medallist Belinda Bencic when, two match points down, she conjured up, nervelessly, brilliant forehand and backhand winners.

Swiatek won the pair’s only previous meeting on the Roman clay in 2021, and the seedings would suggest a semi-final date with American Jessica Pegula.

Marketa Vondrousova will have plenty to say about that, though. The Czech left-hander, who meets No.4 seed Pegula on No.1 Court, is enjoying her most convincing run since she reached the Roland-Garros final four years ago.

Her career has stalled with a couple of surgeries on her racket wrist but she’s likened herself to a fighter rising from the canvas. As one of the multitude of tattoos on her left arm reminds her: “No rain no flowers”.

Vondrousova is blooming again and will look to prevent Pegula advancing beyond a Grand Slam quarter-final for the first time in her career.

Andrey Rublev knows all about that quarter-final block. He’s in his eighth today but semi-finals always elude him. Why? Well, stumbling into roadblocks like Novak Djokovic in the last eight, as he does on Centre Court today, can be a bit of an impediment.

Yet Rublev is flying. His dazzling win over Alexander Bublik on Sunday featured one winner that took him to match point – a tumbling diving retrieval of a seemingly unstoppable backhand tracer – that left John McEnroe gasping from the commentary box: “That’s one of the great shots we’ve seen here!”

Ah, so maybe diving around like a new supersonic version of Boris Becker is what you have to do to beat Djokovic.

“How would you have gone about trying to beat him in your prime, John?” McEnroe was then asked. For once, Supermac was reduced to silence before muttering: “I don’t have an answer…” 

But then who does? Can Rublev really find the belief to down a man who has just won his 43rd consecutive match on Centre Court, stretching back more than a decade?

Perhaps he can. After all, the No.7 seed did pull off a similar mission impossible last year – defeating Djokovic on his home court in Belgrade at the Novak Tennis Centre to win the Serbia Open.

Anything’s possible, of course. Roman Safiullin is showing that. On his SW19 debut, this grass court novice couldn’t have dreamed, as a world No.92 who’d not got beyond the second round of any Grand Slam before, that he’d suddenly find himself in the quarter-finals.

He’s already knocked out two seeds, Roberto Bautista Agut and Denis Shapovalov, en route to his first last-eight appearance in any tour-level event this year, and now the exciting No.8 seed Jannik Sinner is next on his list on No.1 Court.

He could afford to feel a bit giddy, as he was asked if he was ready to move to a swish new hotel now that a career-high pay cheque was guaranteed. This is not Roman’s way. “Why should I change it? Nice hotel. It's not like five stars, but I like the bed,” says this down-to-earth figure.

Sinner sees in Safiullin’s story a touch of the tale of Aslan Karatsev, who burst from nowhere in 2021 to reach the Australian Open semi-final, but the young Italian, who’s graduated from skiing prodigy to one of the most exciting talents in tennis, will hope to slalom into his first of many Grand Slam semi-finals.

New this year:

See the draw like never before, with interactive Path to the Final view of the draw by clicking a player’s name on the draws page

See the projected Path to the Final of every player in the Gentlemen’s and Ladies’ singles draws with IBM Likely to Play

View how favourable or difficult a player's draw is, with IBM AI Draw Analysis