Taylor Fritz blew a hole in Alexander Zverev’s perfect serving record at this year’s Wimbledon by producing a storming comeback from two sets down to topple the German fourth seed with a 4-6, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 victory to reach the quarter-finals.

For two-and-a-half sets on Monday, Zverev’s serve was impenetrable, as it had been during the championships as he notched up 56 successive holds over the course of four matches.

Zverev looked well set to reach the last eight of the grasscourt major for the first time as he led by two sets to love and was locked at 4-4 in the third.

But a double fault from Zverev handed Fritz an unexpected break in the next game and from then on the American’s performance caught fire.

He chased down everything the German could throw at him and produced some eye-popping diving winners in the fifth set to leave Zverev staring at defeat.

A backhand winner into an open court left Fritz raising his arm in triumph, while Zverev was left to digest yet another disappointing exit from Wimbledon.

The American 13th seed will next face Italian Lorenzo Musetti.

Musetti advanced to the first grand slam quarter-finals of his career by beating the 21-year-old 6-foot-8 Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2.

Musetti joins No. 1 Jannik Sinner and women’s No. 7 Jasmine Paolini in collectively making Italian history. It’s the first time three Italians have reached the quarter-finals at the same grand slam.

After an up-and-down season, Musetti is on quite a roll at the All England Club. He became a father in March.

“It’s been almost a year, really challenging with a lot of new experiences with the pregnancy of my girlfriend, and becoming a father.

“A lot of things happened and changed,” Musetti said in an on-court interview. “I needed more time to find a balance on everything.” Monday was his birthday.

No. 9 Alex de Minaur reached his first quarter-finals here by eliminating 20-year-old Arthur Fils of France 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

Smashing Svitolina

Ukrainian Elina Svitolina wiped away tears after her following news of a Russian missile attack in her home country. She breezed past Wang Xinyu 6-2, 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals.

“It’s a very difficult day today for Ukrainian people,” she said. “So yes, it was not easy to focus today on the match. Since the morning, it’s very difficult to read the news.”

A major Russian missile attack across Ukraine killed dozens and injured more than 150 people, officials said. One missile hit a large children’s hospital in the capital of Kyiv.

Svitolina, who reached the semi-finals twice at the All England Club, including last year, wore a black ribbon on her white shirt during the match.

“Thank you for your support,” she told the Wimbledon crowd. The No. 21 seed will play 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in the quarter-finals.

Rybakina, the No. 4 seed, advanced earlier when Anna Kalinskaya retired in the second set because of an injury.

Rybakina was leading 6-3, 3-0 when the 17th-seeded Kalinskaya stopped playing. Kalinskaya had taken a medical timeout in the first set, with attention paid to her neck and right forearm.

Rybakina has now won 18 of 20 matches in her career at the All-England Club to join Ann Jones and Steffi Graf as the only players in the Open Era to have a 90% win rate in women’s singles at Wimbledon.

The 25-year-old Rybakina is the highest-seeded woman remaining in the draw.

“My serve helps me a lot and especially when the roof is closed there is no wind, no conditions, so it’s perfect for my game,” she said after hitting seven aces. “I’m really happy the way I played my last two matches, so really enjoying my time here.”

Jelena Ostapenko, seeded 13, defeated Yulia Putintseva 6-2, 6-3.