Hungry Henry Patten can’t wait to test himself against the best after brilliantly booking his place in the Wimbledon quarter-finals.
The Manningtree star, 28, reached the men’s doubles last eight alongside Finnish partner Harri Heliövaara with a straight sets win against Rafael Matos and Marcelo Melo on Monday.
The dynamic duo, who had toppled Italian fifth seeds Andrea Vavassori and Simone Bolelli in the opening round, clinched a polished 7-6 (1) 6-2 triumph to reach Patten’s first ever Grand Slam quarter-final on Court 18.
Next they will face the formidable pairing of fourth seeds Marcelo Arévalo and Mate Pavić, who were crowned French Open champions at Roland-Garros last month and arrived in SW19 as one of the red-hot men’s doubles favourites.
Patten is relishing the prospect of tussling with the Salvadorian and Croat as he now sits just three wins away from a remarkable All England Club triumph.
“I’m buzzing about it to be honest,” he said.
“It was quite a tight match-up but we thought if we played well we’d have every chance on grass, which is a surface that suits us pretty well.
“It was a tight first set, but we won the tie-break as Harri switched on and managed to run away with it.
“I’m over the moon about it and onto the next round.
“It’s just one match at a time – Arévalo and Pavić are coming off the back of winning the French Open and are arguably the best, most in-form team in the world right now.
“We’re just looking forward to that – they’re probably the most complete players me and Harri have played in our partnership so far.
“We’re looking forward to that challenge – it will be a real test and will be interesting to see how we get on.”
After advancing to the men’s doubles last eight on Monday, Patten retook to the Court 18 grass alongside fellow East Anglian star Olivia Nicholls in the mixed doubles.
And he triumphed once again in an all-British battle, beating Julian Cash and Maia Lumsden 7-5 7-6 (5) in front of a bumper home crowd.
Patten and Norwich star Nicholls, 29, have known each other for years and that close-knit connection was obvious as they bounced around the court and booked their place in round two.
Patten added: “It was great fun and everyone enjoyed themselves – it was a great crowd and we got a great reception.
“When we walked out we got a great reception – and that set the tone for the rest of the match, which was a high-level one.”
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