Taylor Fritz displaces Alexander Zverev and is in the Wimbledon quarterfinals together with Tommy Paul

When it was finally time to play, Paul was relaxed. He beat Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut in straight sets – and then the wait began again. The 27-year-old Paul, seeded 12th, had done his part to secure a place in the quarterfinals. He had to wait another day until his good pal Taylor Fritz, 26, did his part to end a long dry spell for the Americans.

Fritz (No. 13) defeated Alexander Zverev (No. 4) 4-6, 6-7 (7-4), 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 on Monday to ensure that multiple American men will compete in the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the first time since 2000, when Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Jan-Michael Gambill reached the last eight. Fritz and Paul are the last Americans still in contention, along with surprise women’s quarterfinalist Emma Navarro (No. 19).

Fritz scored one of the most impressive Grand Slam victories of his career, overcoming a two-set deficit against Zverev, who reached the final of the French Open last month. The hard-hitting German had not lost a set in the first three rounds of Wimbledon and was serving so well that he had not dropped a single service game. He had not faced a single break point since the first round.

Zverev played the first two sets effortlessly. But Fritz, who had won a warm-up tournament on grass before Wimbledon, felt he was playing too well to give up. He avoided Zverev’s serve and bought himself more time to get the returns exactly where he wanted them.

Fritz finally managed to break Zverev in the third set – just once. But in a match that depended on strong serves and short points, that was enough of a starting point.

“Once we got into the rallies,” Fritz said, “I felt like I was playing as well as I could.”

Zverev was not quite as impressed with his performance. The 27-year-old fell heavily in his third-round match against Cameron Norrie and suffered a bruised bone and a torn capsule in his left knee. He wore a protective bandage throughout the entire match on Monday.

“I was on one leg today,” Zverev said. “He’s playing great. … But I also know that the match wasn’t at a high level. I mean, it wasn’t a particularly great tennis match. … There weren’t any really long rallies because I couldn’t play long rallies.”

After the match, Zverev had another complaint at the net, telling Fritz that he felt some of the spectators in his box had been disrespectfully loud, especially given that Zverev was having difficulty moving.

“Taylor and I grew up together and have played against each other since we were young. I think it was pretty obvious that I wasn’t 100 percent fit today, right?” Zverev said when asked about the exchange. “… His team is extremely respectful. I think his coach, his physio, his second coach too, they’re extremely respectful. There are maybe a few other people in the box who maybe aren’t from the tennis world, who maybe don’t… watch every single match. They were a little bit over the top. That’s OK. No problems. No drama.”

With the victory, Fritz ended a personal dry spell: On Monday he achieved his first victory over Zverev in three Grand Slam attempts. The two had previously met twice at Wimbledon.

The Californian faced No. 25 seed Lorenzo Musetti, one of two Italians still in the semifinals alongside No. 1 seed Jannik Sinner. Paul, who also won a grass-court tournament before Wimbledon, has a top match against No. 3 seed Carlos Alcaraz on Court 1 on Tuesday.

Paul hit 11 aces in his win over Bautista Agut on Sunday and hopes his first-punch tennis will help him as much as it did Fritz on Monday.

“Serve and return are very important for me. We both play a pretty aggressive style of tennis,” Paul said of Alcaraz. “He plays pretty well and ultra-aggressively. People enjoy watching him. Honestly, he’s fun to play against.”

No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic advanced in Monday’s other fourth-round match, beating No. 15 Holger Rune 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 to reach his 60th Grand Slam quarterfinal. On Wednesday, Djokovic will face No. 9 Alex de Minaur, who beat Arthur Fils 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.