London: The only thing that burned brighter than the London sun on a blazing Friday afternoon was Carlos Alcaraz’s tennis. The Spaniard had 38 winners in his two-hour 48-minute tussle against the fifth seed Taylor Fritz, but each of those strikes stood out, sparkling with a different spin. Alcaraz’s mélange is so great, it’s almost unfair. The two-time defending champion scored a 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (6) win that took him to his third consecutive Wimbledon final in just his fifth appearance on Church Road. Alcaraz will take on world No. 1 Jannik Sinner in Sunday’s title match, in what will be a repeat of the Roland Garros final a month ago. Sinner beat the seven-time Wimbledon champion 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 in one-hour and 55-minutes to make his first final at SW19. Djokovic, who had a nasty fall in his quarterfinal match, wasn’t at his best in the last-four clash, and had a trainer on court. “It was a really difficult match, tough with the conditions,” Alcaraz said. “I’m just happy in the four sets, saving two set points.” Alcaraz used a sprinkling of his best shots to serve notice of his intentions at the get-go. The 22-year-old came up with angles and line balls, shots that posed questions to the 6 ft 5’ American in the opening game of the match, breaking just as the starter’s gun fired. He backed the break with service holds, which were a combination of bold and explosive play. Fritz, who looked a tad unready initially, settled into the match, but it was too late for the first set.
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On a warm Friday afternoon, when the bounce was as true as it can be on a live surface, Alcaraz was taken to deuce for the first time in the match in the fourth game of the second set. Four games later Fritz had a breakpoint, but it wasn’t until the 12th game that the Spaniard was broken. Alcaraz fell behind 0-30, and with his nerves fluttering like the hand fans in the stands, the second seed double faulted and Fritz stepped on the line to push home the opportunity. The 27-year-old took a rather relaxed toilet break at the end of the set, maybe he needed to change, it was a warm day after all, but that time away from the court gave Alcaraz the momentum Fritz had fought long and hard to claim. The Spaniard was out of his chair and waiting at the baseline when the American returned. Fritz managed the first hold, but was broken in the third and again in the ninth game. In the fourth set, Fritz hung tough, but Alcaraz was flying, he looked so ahead of his opponent, you could tell from all that came off his racket strings, that he had sniffed the finish line. It was the sheer strength of the American’s will that took the set to tie-break. Fritz, who had 19 aces and 44 winners in the match, also had 24 unforced errors, which was par for the course given how big he was forced to go. The fifth seed won five straight points, from 1-4 down to give himself a chance to serve out the set, but Alcaraz roared back into the shootout, winning the next four points. Some of Alcaraz’s statistics match the audacity of his match play. With his win on Friday, he extended his win streak against top-five opponents to six matches. This was his 24th consecutive tour-level match win, and 20th consecutive Wimbledon win. “I’m not thinking about the winning streak,” Alcaraz said of the joy that his tennis sparks. Meanwhile, in the girls under-14, Jensi Deepakbhai Kanabar, went down 4-6, 6-7 (4) in her second round-robin match.
