LONDON: It was billed as the battle of the 20-year-olds but Carlos Alcaraz pulled rank on his childhood buddy Holger Rune as he doused the Dane’s fireworks to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time with a 7-6 (7/3), 6-4, 6-4 victory on Wednesday.
The two tyros who were born six days apart were contesting a men’s Wimbledon quarter-final that for the first time in the professional era featured two players aged under 21.
Despite his youth, Alcaraz is already at home among the elite of men’s tennis and produced the form that has carried him to the top of the rankings by never allowing Rune to gain the upper hand, no matter how many flashy shots he conjured.
Alcaraz stayed on course for a title showdown against defending champion Novak Djokovic and will play Russian third seed Daniil Medvedev in the semi-finals.
Earlier, Medvedev curtailed American debutant Christopher Eubanks’ extraordinary Wimbledon adventure as he weathered a ferocious storm to come through their quarter-final 6-4, 1-6, 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-1.
Former US Open champion Medvedev hit 52 winners compared to Eubanks’ 74 but crucially committed just a meagre 13 unforced errors to his opponent’s 55.
Eubanks, who had shocked fifth-ranked Stefanos Tsistipas in the previous round, was attempting to become just the third man to reach the semi-finals on debut.
On the women’s side, Ons Jabeur avenged her painful defeat in last year’s final to set up a last-four clash against Aryna Sabalenka.
In a repeat of the 2022 title match, Tunisian sixth seed Jabeur came from behind to beat defending champion Elena Rybakina 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-1 in their quarter-final on Centre Court.
Both players broke twice in the first set before the Kazakh third seed took the tie-break.
The second set went with serve until the 10th game, when Rybakina cracked and Jabeur levelled the match.
The force was with Jabeur in the decider as she opened up a 3-0 lead and saved two break points to move 4-1 ahead.
Jabeur powered a backhand down the line to break once again and held her serve to seal the win, letting out a roar of delight.
“I’m very happy with the performance — a lot of emotion out there, especially playing someone that serves really well,” she said. “It’s frustrating to return but I’m glad I did everything, shouted, got angry, then got calm and focused and hopefully I can manage my emotions like this for the next two matches.”
Sabalenka powered into a second Wimbledon semi-final with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Madison Keys of the United States.
A double break secured the first set and Sabalenka, who was defeated by Karolina Pliskova in the last four in 2021, dug herself out of a deep hole at 4-2, 40-0 down in the second set.
The world number two from Belarus was banned from the 2022 tournament following the invasion of Ukraine along with all Russian and Belarusian players.
“It was an amazing battle and I’m so happy to be back in the semi-final. I just hope to do better than last time,” said Sabalenka. “When I was a little girl I dreamed of winning Wimbledon. It’s something special here.”
In Tuesday’s late action, Djokovic reached a 12th Wimbledon semi-final and record-equalling 46th at the Grand Slams when he defeated Andrey Rublev 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-3.
The Serb, who will face Italy’s Jannik Sinner for a place in the final, has now reached as many semi-finals at the Slams as the retired Roger Federer.
The 36-year-old, playing in his 400th Grand Slam match, insisted he was enjoying being the man to beat.
“I love it. Any player wants to be in the position where all the other players want to beat you,” he said after preserving his record of not losing on Centre Court since 2013.
“The pressure never goes away every time I come on court. They want to get a scalp and the win — but it ain’t happening!”
Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2023
