The first semi-final of the men’s tournament pitted players who had previously played each other twice on Wimbledon grass. In 2021, Daniil Medvedev taught Carlos Alcaraz, who was then entering the tour, a lesson in the second round. Two years later, the Spaniard proved better than the Russian in the semi-final and then took the title.
On Friday, both tennis players faced each other once more in the semi-finals of the London tournament. Once once more, “Carlitos” was the favorite, but this time their rivalry was not decided in three sets. Finally, following two hours and 55 minutes, Alcaraz won 6:7(1), 6:3, 6:4, 6:4. Thanks to this, he improved his record with Medvedev to 5-2 and on Sunday he will have a chance to defend the championship.
The beginning of the match was quite nervous on both sides. The game was frantic. There was no shortage of interesting actions, but mistakes prevailed. Alcaraz was the first to earn a break point, but Medvedev was the first to celebrate a break. The Russian went up 3:1, but lost the break in a flash. After a while, the Muscovite easily won another break, and then jumped to 5:2.
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It was enough for Alcaraz to stop making mistakes and simple errors, and quickly get back into the game in the first set. He played the ninth game brilliantly on the return. The dissatisfied Medvedev cursed at the referee Eva Asderaki-Moore when she announced a double bounce of the ball, for which he received a warning. A moment later it was 5 and the fight in the first set flared up once more. In the end, his fate was decided by a tie-break, in which the Russian played brilliantly, and his opponent won only a point.
The defeat in the first set clearly motivated Alcaraz to improve his performance on the center court. In the second set, the defending champion showed more offensive tennis and, most importantly, did not make a dozen or so unforced errors. This foreshadowed problems for Medvedev, who found himself in trouble in the fourth game. The Spaniard confidently won a break and then jumped to 4:1. He did not let go of this advantage. In the ninth, he used his second set point and leveled the match at 1-1.
The third part of the match resembled the events of the previous set. Alcaraz guarded his own serve and patiently waited for his chances. In the third game, he wisely led several exchanges and following an opponent’s mistake, he got a break for 2:1. Later, the 21-year-old had another chance to increase the score. However, Medvedev saved his serve in the seventh game. The Russian himself did not work out any chances to get back into the game, and in the tenth game, the Spaniard ended the set on his second chance and took the lead in the match.
When Alcaraz won a break at the beginning of the fourth set, it seemed that he might not be surprised any more. Meanwhile, following the change of sides, the Spaniard made a few simple mistakes and easily gave up the advantage. Medvedev held serve twice, but at 3-all, his opponent started attacking on the return. “Carlitos” won a break and this time did not give up the lead. In the tenth game, he used the first match point and the match came to an end.
In Friday’s match, Alcaraz had six aces, two double faults, 55 winning strokes and 37 errors. He also managed six breaks, to which his opponent responded with only three breaks. Medvedev had five aces, six double faults, 31 finishing moves and 24 errors. In total, the Spaniard outscored the Russian by ten points (127-117).
The victorious Alcaraz advanced to his fourth Grand Slam final. He won the previous three, at the US Open 2022, Wimbledon 2023 and Roland Garros 2024. His Sunday opponent in the title match on the London grass will be either Serb Novak Djokovic or Italian Lorenzo Musetti.
The ChampionshipsWimbledon (Great Britain) Grand Slam, grass court, prize pool £50 million Friday, July 12
singles semi-final:
Carlos Alcaraz (Spain, 3) – Daniil Medvedev (5) 6:7(1), 6:3, 6:4, 6:4
Men’s tournament program and results
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