The 34-year-old addressed the Centre Court crowd in her on-court interview, sharing her pride after coming through “tough conditions” to return to the last eight at Wimbledon.

And as she walked away from the microphone, she quickly stopped to apologise. “Sorry, guys. Thank you!” Pavlyuchenkova said before packing her bags and walking off the court.

The more experienced player came out on top in Sunday’s first match on Centre Court. Kartal was playing in the fourth round of a Major for the first time in her career but there were a few too many nerves, and the former world No. 11 took her chances to win in straight sets.

However, Pavlyuchenkova herself didn’t expect to get the job done, and told the fans that she was ready for Kartal to force a decider.

The world No. 50 explained: “I won the first set so I thought okay, I won it so let’s go! Then in the second set actually at the beginning she broke me back and I thought okay, probably we will split [sets] because she started to find the rhythm and play really good.

“She was putting a lot of pressure, not missing any balls, she was grinding and I was getting out of breath, to be honest. I’m so happy that I stayed determined and focused and finished it.”

And after matching her best result here from nine years ago, Pavlyuchenkova added: “Well, it’s incredible because I’ve always thought I’m not good on grass so that’s just incredible, especially me getting older and coming here after.

“I’m just so impressed and proud of myself to compete with these young girls at this stage at this level, and it’s just incredible.

“I think my mental toughness actually is getting better, I think I was always a very good player, I think everybody knows that on tour, but I was just crazy in my head! So now it’s getting better and I’m playing and fighting point by point.

“It was really tough conditions out here today and I think I’ve managed really well and stayed focused. I want to say thank you guys but I just want to say thank you for the great energy.

“I think I would be lying if I’m going to thank you for cheering me on but I understand she is local and that’s I guess normal in sport. But yeah, I guess anyways, thank you all for coming, it was a full stadium, it’s nice to play out here.”

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