Carlos Alcaraz saw off Holger Rune in straight sets on Wednesday to stay on course for a Wimbledon title showdown against defending champion Novak Djokovic. The top seed won the key moments during the quarter-final on Centre Court to progress 7-6 (7/3), 6-4, 6-4 and will play Russian third seed Daniil Medvedev in the semi-finals.
There was just a single break point created in the first set between the 20-year-old friends, which almost inevitably went to a tie-break. The start of the breaker was tight but Rune’s double-fault gave Alcaraz a 4/3 lead and he won the next three points to take the first set.
It was a similar story in the second set until Rune dumped a forehand into the net in the ninth game to give the Spaniard break point.
Alcaraz made no mistake, smoking a backhand down the line to break and holding with ease to move two sets up.
The US Open champion broke again in the fifth game of the third set, giving Rune a mountain to climb. The Danish star saved one match point on his own serve but was powerless to stem the tide as Alcaraz served out to reach his first semi-final at the All England Club.
Medvedev Wins In Five Sets
Daniil Medvedev battled back to defeat unseeded Christopher Eubanks in five sets and reach his first Wimbledon semi-final on Wednesday. The world number three from Russia triumphed 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. However, the 27-year-old’s challenge fizzled out in the final set of a bruising, big-hitting contest.
“After the first set, I didn’t want to go five sets but when I lost the third, I was happy to go five,” said Medvedev who fired 28 aces.
“There were moments in the match when I was losing the game so to say and he was playing well.
“I started to sink and make mistakes but after the third set I started to build something. I had more opportunities in the fourth set and after the tiebreak I played amazing.”
