LONDON: Top seed Carlos Alcaraz on Wednesday thrashed his childhood buddy Holger Rune and managed to reach Wimbledon semi-final where he would face defending champion Novak Djokovic.
Alcaraz 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.
He faced just one break point in the entire match, which he snuffed out, hitting 35 winners against 13 unforced errors, AFP reported.
After beating his friend, Alcaraz said, “Honestly, it is amazing for me. It’s been a dream since I started playing tennis.”
The US Open champion, who now has 10 straight wins on grass, was delighted with his performance against his fellow 20-year-old.
“I am playing at a great level. I didn’t expect to play a great level on this surface,” he said. “For me, it is crazy.”
He said he found it tough at the beginning of the match, especially with Rune on the other side of the net.
“But once you get into the quarter-finals there’s no friends,” he added. “You have to be focused on yourself and I think I did great in that part.”
There was just a single break point created in the first set, 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 smash 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.
He 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 the last four at the All England Club for the first time.
Alcaraz is the youngest semi-finalist at Wimbledon since Djokovic in 2007.
The Serbian faces Italian eighth seed Jannik Sinner in Friday’s other semi-final.
Alcaraz is aiming to become the third-youngest player to win the Wimbledon men’s singles crown in the Open Era.
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