Wimbledon: Carlos Alcaraz beats Berrettini and follows Djokovic into quarterfinals
Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic, seeded number one and two, continue to head for a giant duel in the final in Wimbledon.
by SID / tennisnet
last edit: Jul 10, 2023, 10:23 pm
On the way there, however, Alcaraz was more convincing: In contrast to Alexander Zverev, he managed to decode the Italian Matteo Berrettini and his game. With a 3: 6, 6: 3, 6: 3, 6: 3, the 20-year-old Spaniard made it into the quarter-finals against Holger Rune from Denmark, who was the same age - there was a younger duel for a place in the semi-finals on the holy lawn never.
"I knew it would be very difficult," said Alcaraz, who after his first entry into the round of the top eight in Wimbledon also addressed a small challenge to Djokovic: "I wanted to reach the quarter-finals, I did it, but I did I'm hungry, I want more."
Berrettini got off to a better start and took set 1, but brought Alcaraz back into the match with a weak service game, which he held to zero. In general, the Spaniard returned strongly - for comparison: Berrettini had not yet been broken in the entire tournament and had only had to fend off one break chance in his third round match against Alexander Zverev. Only Alcaraz' result was a bit meager (in the meantime: 1:10), but then he also got the decisive break in the third set to make it 2:1.
When it was 2-2 in the fourth round, there was a small interruption because the roof was closed due to darkness and the lights were switched on. It no longer helped Berrettini.
Djokovic: "Felt miserable on return"
Djokovic had a much harder time there. Increasingly frustrated, he saw 33 aces from Hubert Hurkacz fly past him, he was only able to take the serve from his Polish opponent once, and yet: despite all the resistance, the defending champion could not be defeated. In a match over two days, the champion of the past four years won 7: 6 (8: 6), 7: 6 (8: 6), 5: 7, 6: 4.
"I can't remember the last time I felt so miserable on the return," said Djokovic after the 32nd win in a row at Wimbledon. "This match could have ended differently, it was not a joy for me," he added. Djokovic has won on the sacred turf on the past four occasions and seven times in total. Roger Federer (8) holds the record.
After 3:06 hours, Djokovic turned his first match point into a victory that was really hard fought. Only in the fifth game of the fourth set did Hurkacz, ranked 18th in the world, lose his serve. The fact that he missed the not so unlikely sensation was due to the mistakes in the few decisive moments. In the tie-break of the first set, the Pole missed three set balls.
Eubanks surprised against Tsitsipas
Unlike Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas couldn't prevent a surprise. The Greek seeded number five lost to the American Christopher Eubanks 6: 3, 6: 7 (4: 7), 6: 3, 4: 6, 4: 6. The 27-year-old Wimbledon debutant now meets world number three Daniil Medvedev, Djokovic meets his Russian compatriot Andrej Rublev.
The rune seeded at number six defeated the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 3:6, 7:6 (8:6), 7:6 (7:4), 6:3.
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