Ryan Peniston is eager to savour the best week of his life and has set no limits on what he can achieve at Queen’s Club.
The 26-year-old progressed into the cinch Championships quarter-finals with a dramatic and entertaining 6-0 4-6 6-4 victory over Francisco Cerundolo to continue British involvement in the west London tournament.
After Andy Murray’s withdrawal due to a side injury on Monday was followed by early exits for Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans, there were fears about a lack of home presence in the latter stages of the ATP Tour 500 event.
British number seven Peniston made sure that would not be the case to carry on his dream few days in the capital after Tuesday saw him stun French Open finalist Casper Ruud and discover he had been handed a Wimbledon wild card.
“The best week of my life? Yeah, definitely. It has been a rollercoaster so far and pretty much like a dream. I can’t really think of anything that tops it,” he admitted.
“No, to be honest I didn’t really envisage myself being the last Brit. We have such good players in Britain and at a deep level but now I am I will take a lot of confidence and will try to keep it rolling.
“I think I am trying to do the same things, trying to treat every match the same and I have definitely taken a lot of confidence from the last few weeks, especially the last couple of matches. Yeah, I guess I ask myself why not (win it)?”
Peniston seemed to relish being on Centre Court again and raced through the opening set in 20 minutes with Cerundolo not getting on the board until the eighth game of the match.
It was a case of London buses for the Argentinian, though, who is ranked 44 in the world for a reason and he clinched a key break early into the second which forced a decider.
Cerundolo looked on course to progress for much of the final set after an early break again, but roared on by a buoyant home crowd Peniston fought back from 4-2 down and sealed victory with a stunning winner down the line to reach a third quarter-final in a row after fine runs at Surbiton and Nottingham.
It makes his record on grass this summer 6-2 and it is that type of form which saw Wimbledon hand the left-hander from Southend a wild card on Tuesday.
Peniston added: “I think because it was such a big dream of mine to play there and for a lot of the players it is like that so when I heard the news it was a big, big pressure off my shoulders.
“I kind of felt I had done it and got there, so I just took positives from it and when I was on court I felt less pressure for sure.”
Next up for the British number seven is Friday’s quarter-final meeting with Filip Krajinovic, who beat Sam Querrey 4-6 6-3 6-4.
Defending champion Matteo Berrettini was also involved in a thriller on Centre Court and had to fight back from a set down to see off Denis Kudla by a 3-6 7-6 (5) 6-4 score.
The Italian, who made the final at Wimbledon last year, will face Tommy Paul in the last eight after the American eased past Stan Wawrinka 6-1 6-4 at the start of the day’s play.
