The second pair of quarter-finalists from the top of the group played a match for reaching 1/2. Carlos Alcaras dealt with Holger Rune in three games: 7:6 (3), 6:4, 6:4. He will now have a match to reach the final with Daniil Medvedev. At the bottom of the grid is a battle: Yannick Sinner and Novak Djokovic.
The future top 3, as experts call him – Carlos Alcaraz, Holger Rune and Yannick Sinner – appeared for the first time in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament. They also competed for the title of the youngest Wimbledon semifinalist since 2007. Today, this is Alcaraz, who turns 20.
Rune and Alcaraz met only twice. The Spaniard and the Dane played the final of the youth final in 2021: then Carlos won in three sets: 4:3 (6), 4:2, 4:0. At the adult level, the battle ended with the victory of Holger: on his way to the title in the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters, Carlos retired with a score of 6:3, 6:6 (0:1).
At the age of 13, they also played a pair at the junior Les Petits As in France; they met for the first time at that time. And they perfectly remember that experience, which they spoke about in press conferences.
“We shared many wonderful moments. We’ve been playing together since we were 12 years old. We haven’t written to each other, but obviously we know each other very well. I’m so excited. I think so will he.” There he also praised the Dane’s two-handed backhand. “If I have to take a weapon away from him, I’ll say backhand,” he said at a press conference after defeating Matteo Berrettini.
“We played once as a couple. In my opinion, then they performed well, they reached the semifinals, if I’m not mistaken. I hope we will do it again sometime. But now let’s fight each other. He has always been a very passionate player, I would say with a lot of energy. I think he remained the same: he was Carlos then, and now Carlos. It’s much better now. He is progressing very fast,” Holger Rune retorted after defeating Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.
Carlos approached the first head-to-head match at TBSH with almost no losses: he gave up just two sets, to Nicholas Harry and Matteo Berrettini. Rune, on the other hand, almost flew out of the tournament in the third round: the match with Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina ended in five games, and in the tiebreaker, the Spaniard literally gave his opponent victory, breaking his serve. – Rune accepted it without problems and took the match – 6:3, 4:6, 3:6, 6:4, 7:6.
carlos alcaraz
Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
Carlos started the quarterfinal match with errors: two unforced gave the Dane an early break point. But the Spaniard limited himself to playing on the net and closed the game from the beginning. Already with his service, Rune tried to reach the net, implying that he would fight for the initiative on any ball; it was at stake for Holger to reach the first TBS semifinal in the last eight majors.
The guys got married a lot in quite simple situations – in the net or shortened exits, which can be attributed to the nervousness of the quarterfinals and the early battle. Forced to make mistakes and the high pace of the game. Therefore, tennis players from time to time scored 0-30, but could not realize the advantage or at least reach break points – the thrower regularly rallied. For almost an hour they approached the tie-break, where at the start they first exchanged mini-breaks, but then a double Rune allowed Carlos to take the lead (4:3) and keep the lead – 7:6 (3).
In the second set, everyone also took their serve, however, already at zero – the ball did not stay in play, and the tennis players finished the rallies with the second or third hit. However, Alcaraz faced the first problems: he failed to break serve twice, and Rune hit from under the back and reached the score of 40-40. But the Spaniard led the game to victory.
Already at 30:30 and 4:4, Rune did not implement the decisive spike, and Carlos scored a hidden set point on the reception – he hit the second serve directly from the backhand along the line. Later the Spanish closed the set with a filing. Again the game was even, but in the end Alcaraz turned out to be stronger – 6:4. Unlike the first set, Carlos played the second fair game, when the Scandinavian had four unforced.
Already with the score 2:2 in the third set, Alcaraz made an early break: the reception worked perfectly, and then the Spaniard dealt with the badly shortened Runa in the net. Immediately the first racket in the world confirmed the break and led the match to victory – 6:4.
Rune Holger
Photo: Patrick Smith/Getty Images
In the semifinals, Alcaraz will face Daniil Medvedev, who reached this stage after defeating Christopher Eubanks in five games: 6: 4, 1: 6, 4: 6, 7: 6 (4), 6: 1. In personal meetings – 1-1. The Spaniard took the last game: not a chance was left in the Indian Wells final this year. However, they played their first head-to-head meeting right at Wimbledon, and that fight turned out to be Medvedev’s – 6:4, 6:1, 6:2.
