WIMBLEDON, England -- Late on middle Sunday, out on the grounds of the All England Club, you could hear the crowd roaring through the ivy-covered walls on Centre Court and nearby Court No.1. This was scintillating, thrilling stuff -- the very best women’s tennis has to offer.

Simultaneously, World No.1 Iga Swiatek was mounting an epic comeback against Belinda Bencic, saving two match points in the process. Meanwhile, Elina Svitolina and Victoria Azarenka, two mothers and heavily decorated veterans, were locked in a surreal struggle.

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Ultimately, Swiatek was a 6-7 (4), 7-6 (2), 6-3 winner over Bencic in a match that ran 3 hours, 3 minutes, the third-longest match of Swiatek’s career. Svitolina rallied to defeat Azarenka 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (9) in 2 hours, 46 minutes, beating her for the first time in six tries.

In her on-court interview, the emotional 28-year-old from Ukraine spoke for all four players -- by responding to the first question with stunned silence.

“I think after giving birth, this is the second-happiest moment in my life,” Svitolina said after gathering herself. “There are lots of people back home cheering for me, so I know how much it means to them.”

Swiatek was similarly moved.

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“I’m just happy I won it because honestly in second set I wasn’t sure that it’s going to end that way,” she told reporters.

With that, they’ll face each other Tuesday at Wimbledon. Here’s a look at the two quarterfinal matches on the schedule:

No.1 Iga Swiatek vs. Elina Svitolina

Largely lost in all those pyrotechnics was the continuing evolution of Swiatek. At the age of 22, she has now reached the quarterfinals of all four Grand Slams -- the youngest since Svetlana Kuznetsova in 2006.

It was the 14th consecutive win for Swiatek, this year’s Roland Garros champion and the No.1-ranked player on the Hologic WTA Tour for 67 consecutive weeks. The narrative coming in was Swiatek’s relative lack of success on grass, but she’s already surpassed her best effort here, a fourth-round appearance in 2021.

Swiatek, who will feature in Part 2 of Netflix's Break Point, beat Svitolina in their only previous meeting, in straight sets in a 2021 Rome quarterfinal.

Svitolina showed tremendous character and poise, coming back on Azarenka after trailing by a set and a break. The third-set tiebreak was a thing of beauty.

While Svitolina’s game has always been based on angles and defense, Azarenka noted that Svitolina seems to have come back from the birth of her daughter in October with a more aggressive mindset.

“I think she plays much more freely with no pressure right now,” Azarenka said. “Will it change later? You never know. I think it might. To play free and obviously a lot of people supporting her, I don’t know if it’s an advantage for her, but I would think that’s part of it.”

Svitolina is the first wild card to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals since Sabine Lisicki in 2011 and the third of the Open Era. With a win over Swiatek, Svitolina can match her best performance in a major; she reached the semifinals at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2019.

“I think she’s that kind of player who is patient,” Swiatek said of Svitolina. “She has enough experience to have all the skills to play defense, play offense. She won so many big tournaments, like WTA Finals. We also spent that quarantine time in Australia practicing with each other. She’s really solid player. So I have to be ready for everything.”

Svitolina’s comeback has come with some wholesale changes -- racquet, strings and members of her team.

“I don’t try to be the same as I was before,” she said. “OK, I reached quite good ranking, No. 3 in the world, good results. But right now, it’s a new chapter for me. I want to bring something new. So far, it’s been working well.”

No.4 Jessica Pegula vs. Marketa Vondrousova

Earlier this season, Pegula and Gauff won doubles titles in Doha and Miami. Surprisingly, that matches Pegula’s career total for tournament wins in singles. For while she is one of the most consistent players on the Hologic WTA Tour, Pegula keeps bumping into a glass ceiling, particularly at the majors.

When she won 6-1, 6-3 against Lesia Tsurenko, Pegula ran her fourth-round singles record at the Grand Slams to 6-0. And yet, she is 0-5 in the quarterfinals that followed. This match is a terrific opportunity to dramatically change that trend.

“To say that I’ve done that at all four is something I’ve wanted to say,” Pegula told reporters later. “Obviously, I hope I can do more than that.

These two have never played.

Previously, Pegula had reached the quarters at the other three majors, so this gives her a rare matched set. She’s only the fifth American woman to reach the quarters at all four majors in the past quarter century, joining Venus and Serena Williams, Madison Keys and Sloane Stephens.

The unseeded Vondrousova has been doing some narrative-changing of her own. Coming in, she had won a single match at Wimbledon, and now she’s looking for her fifth straight. This is a little reminiscent of her run to the final at Roland Garros in 2019. And while, Pegula has yet to play a seeded player, Vondrousova has already done some heavy lifting, taking out No.12 Veronika Kudermetova, No. 20 Donna Vekic and No. 32 Marie Bouzkova.