London: Taylor Fritz would do well to ignore the numbers Carlos Alcaraz has racked up this season. He can’t help himself. The Spaniard, who went through his Wimbledon last-eight match against Cameron Norrie in straight sets, is in his eighth career Grand Slam semi-finals, where he faces Fritz on Friday. He has played 18 Majors so far. That was also his 23rd consecutive win, 19th consecutive at SW19. Alcaraz’s career record on grass is 34-3. The 22-year-old Spaniard, aiming to join Bjorn Borg as the only men in the Open Era to achieve the Roland Garros–Wimbledon double in consecutive years, is the third youngest man in the Open Era to reach three successive Wimbledon singles semifinals, after Bjorn Borg and Rafael Nadal. “I don’t want my winning streak to stop at 23, just want to keep it going,” Alcaraz said with a smile.
Alcaraz, whose average first serve speed in the tournament is at 123.9 mph, has hit 62 aces in his run to the last four, but has 24 double faults. The Spaniard has faced 46 breakpoints and saved 36 in his five matches, while converting 46 percent of break-point chances (27 of 59). Fritz, 6’5”, one of the bigger servers on Tour, averages 125.3 mph on his first serve, and has 95 aces and nine double faults, saving 11 of 18 breakpoint chances he has faced. Where Fritz will have to do more in the semifinals is breakpoint conversions, just 42 percent (19 of 45) so far. Fritz, who trails the head-to-head 0-2, is pleased their third meeting isn’t on clay, playing with Wilson balls at Roland Garros. “Grass is an equalizer, it can be an equalizer,” the American, in his first Wimbledon semifinal, said. “I trust in how I’m playing. I know the way that I played the first two sets in the semifinals (against Karen Khachanov), there’s not much any opponent on the other side can do.” Those are skyscraper words from the American, who’ll look to back it up when he steps out onto the grass for the first semifinal on Friday. Fritz, the 27-year-old world No. 5, won two ATP 250 Series events on grass in Stuttgart and Eastbourne, coming into Wimbledon. “I will not let him play aggressively or dominate,” Alcaraz said.
