Wimbledon 2023: Alcaraz vs Rune tie to create history, first QF in Open Era featuring two U-21 players

Carlos Alcaraz eased past Italian dark horse Matteo Berrettini, 3-6 6-3 6-3 6-3, on Monday (July 10) to reach the last eight of Wimbledon 2023. While he did lose the opening set, he came to his own in the following ones to dominate proceedings and move ahead in the tournament. Meanwhile, Danish player Holger Rune also lost his first set in his face-off versus Grigor Dimitrov and was pushed to a considerable extent before coming on top, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, to reach the quarter-finals where he will now face Alcaraz.

At 20, both Alcaraz and Rune have already made a mark in their young careers. The Spaniard created history at the 2022 US Open, becoming the youngest finalist since Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi in 1990, and won the game versus Casper Ruud in a thrilling fashion to ascend to the top of the ATP Rankings. In terms of head-to-head, both the young guns have one and lost a game each in two face-offs. 

In their last face-off, at the 2022 ATP Masters 1000 Paris, Rune came on top of Alcaraz in the quarters. Will the script remain the same this time around or will Alcaraz bounce back? Only time will tell. For now, one thing is for sure, it will be a mouth-watering clash, on Wednesday (July 12) at the Centre Court.