Wimbledon: Carlos Alcaraz beats Rune - and is in the semifinals for the first time!
Carlos Alcaraz (ATP No. 1) is in the semifinals of the Wimbledon tournament for the first time. In a highly concentrated match, he beat Holger Rune of the same age in three sets.
by Florian Goosmann from Wimbledon
last edit: Jul 12, 2023, 09:42 pm
In the duel between the two 20-year-olds, "Carlitos" won 7: 6 (3), 6.4, 6: 4 - and showed his complete joy about the victory - and making it into the last four.
Both players brought a highly concentrated performance to the pitch, but Alcaraz showed why he is the better - and not for nothing the number 1 in the world. 35 winning strokes with only 13 mistakes without need speak for themselves here. Rune's only chance to break was fended off by Alcaraz.
Alcaraz meets Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals. He won in a parallel match against surprise man Christopher Eubanks in five sets - after a 1: 2 set deficit.
Alcaraz stunned: "Crazy for me!"
"Honestly, it's wonderful. It's been a dream since I've been playing tennis. It's such a wonderful tournament," enthused Alcaraz afterwards. He didn't expect to get such a good level on grass. "It's crazy to me."
The duel against Rune, an old friend? "It was tough. I was very nervous at the beginning - quarter-finals at Wimbledon, then against Rune." But once you're in the quarter-finals, "there are no friends there," he said, laughing.
His loud "Vamooooosssss!!!!!" after winning the first set? "It was very tough for me," he said. "From the second set I really enjoyed the game." Then the laughter returned.
Will the revenge against Medvedev succeed?
He has already played twice against Medvedev, once at Wimbledon.
That was in 2021, back then "Meddy" clearly won in three sentences. The other encounter, in this year's Indian Wells final, was snagged by Alcaraz. "I'll just enjoy it. You don't play a semi-final in Wimbledon every year."
Alcaraz has been in a major final so far, in 2022 at the US Open. There he also won his first (and so far only) Grand Slam title.
The second semi-final is contested by top favorite Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner, one of the other young guns.
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