Dominika Cibulkova might have to rearrange wedding after making it through to quarter-finals

Dominika Cibulkova was not kidding when she used to say that she did not consider herself to be a grass-court player. The 27-year-old Slovakian was so sure that she would not be going deep into the tournament here this week that she booked her wedding for this Saturday.

However, arrangements for the ceremony back in the world No 18’s home city of Bratislava will have to be hastily undone if she wins her quarter-final here on Tuesday against Elena Vesnina. Cibulkova is a much improved player on grass, as she proved by beating the No 3 seed and 2012 runner-up, Agnieszka Radwanska, 6-3, 5-7, 9-7 in a three-hour match full of stunning rallies and great athleticism from both players.

Miso Navara, Cibulkova’s fiancé, was in the crowd to watch arguably the best match of the tournament so far as Cibulkova won a dramatic encounter on Court Three.

Cibulkova, who will postpone the wedding if she reaches the semi-finals, said she had started to think the wedding date would be a problem only after her win today. “It was just when I was in an ice bath after the match,” she said: “I said to my team: ‘OK, now it’s getting more serious.’ I told them: ‘If I win tomorrow, then we seriously have to deal with this’.”

She added: “If we do have to postpone it, then it will be a dream come true, because nothing better could happen to me in my tennis career. It’s no problem to postpone the wedding by one week – and it would be even more enjoyable.”

If she does have to postpone the wedding, Cibulkova might have to make space for two more guests. Marion Bartoli, who is commentating here, and the Czech player Barbora Strycova, who is still in the doubles, have also been having to contemplate missing the wedding.

Cibulkova’s fortunes on grass have taken a major upturn this year. She claimed the first grass-court title of her career at last month’s Aegon International at Eastbourne, where she beat Radwanska in the quarter-finals, and has now beaten two former Wimbledon runner-ups here. She knocked out Eugenie Bouchard, the beaten 2014 finalist, in the third round.

“We chose the wedding date because I never saw myself as such a great grass-court player,” Cibulkova said. “But winning Eastbourne and now, being in the quarter-finals, I would change my mind.”

She added: “In the past I didn't have great results on the grass, but my game has improved a lot. I worked with my coach on different things. We changed the way I play my forehand on grass a little bit. We improved my serve. My return is much better. And most importantly, we’ve worked a lot on mental exercises, which I feel has been helping me.”

Cibulkova, who was runner-up at the Australian Open two years ago, needed every ounce of her physical, mental and emotional strength to beat Radwanska in a match of great drama and rapidly swaying fortunes. Radwanska saved a match point in the second set and in the 11^th game of the decider Cibulkova saved a match point with a bold forehand.

The Slovakian twice went a break up in the third set, only to drop her own serve immediately. On the last occasion, however, there was no way back for Radwanska, despite a final moment of great drama. On match point Cibulkova was given a time violation warning for taking too long to hit her second serve, but won the point, securing victory with a big forehand winner to the corner.

“It was a very tough call,” Cibulkova said later. “I had some really, really tough rallies against her. I wasn’t faking anything. I just needed some more seconds. It was really tough.”

On securing her victory Cibulkova fell to the ground in tears, after which Radwanska came round to her side of the net to give her a warm embrace.

Cibulkova said it was the toughest match she had ever played from both a physical and a mental point of view. “I felt really, really tired,” she said. “It was so tough to go through. I was just fighting for every single ball. And especially when you have an opponent who doesn’t give you any free gifts, you just know that you have to earn every single point. It takes so much energy and it’s even tougher mentally. It was just an amazing, amazing match.”

The Slovakian’s next opponent will also have to make a quick turnaround. Vesnina reached the quarter-finals by beating her fellow Russian, Ekaterina Makarova, 5-7, 6-1, 9-7 in another marathon contest.

Venus Williams is through to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2010 after beating Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro 7-6, 6-4. Williams, who won the last of her five Wimbledon titles eight years ago, will now face Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova, who beat Lucie Safarova 6-2, 6-4.

Serena Williams beat Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-5, 6-0, though the match was closer than the result might suggest. Kuznetsova broke serve to lead 5-4, only to drop her own serve in the following game. Williams had been complaining about the slippery surface after some light rain fell on the court and after discussions with Andrew Jarrett, the referee, the players went off for half an hour while the roof was closed. When they returned Williams won eight games in a row.

In the quarter-finals the world No 1 will face Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who reached the last eight for the first time by beating Coco Vandeweghe 6-3, 6-3.

Angelique Kerber, the Australian Open champion, needed just 64 minutes to beat Japan’s Misaki Doi 6-3, 6-1 to earn a quarter-final meeting with Simona Halep, who beat Madison Keys 6-7, 6-4, 6-3.