Defending champion Alcaraz into Wimbledon final

LONDON: Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz reached his fourth Grand Slam final at Wimbledon on Friday when he recovered from a set down to defeat Daniil Medvedev.

World number three Alcaraz beat his fifth-ranked opponent 6-7 (1/7), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 and will face either seven-time champion Novak Djokovic or Lorenzo Musetti for the title on Sunday. Alcaraz defeated Djokovic in the 2023 final in a five-set thriller.

“Obviously it will be a really difficult match. Let´s see who I am going to play on Sunday,” said Alcaraz who crunched 55 winners to the 31 from Medvedev. “I feel like I am not new anymore. I know how I am going to feel before the final. I have been in this position before.”

He added: “I started really nervous today. Daniil was dominating the match, playing great tennis. It was difficult for me.” Twice Medvedev, beaten by the Spaniard at the same stage last year, led with breaks in the first set only to be pinned back.

Such was his frustration that he was handed a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct by umpire Eva Asderaki for an apparent foul-mouthed reaction to a ball called for bouncing twice as he was broken in the ninth game.

The tournament referee and supervisor were even summoned to Centre Court by Asderaki, but Medvedev shrugged off the incident to sweep through the tie-break and take the opening set in which he committed only eight unforced errors to the Spaniard´s 15. It was the third time at this year´s Wimbledon that Alcaraz had dropped the first set.

Alcaraz recovered impressively, breaking Medvedev for a 3-1 lead in the second, having come out on top in the previous game on the back of a 27-shot rally. The 21-year-old then hit 14 winners in the third set, pocketing the only break in the third game.

Medvedev, who had knocked out world number one Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals, retrieved a break early in the fourth set. But Alcaraz kept up his assault, edging ahead again for 4-3 on his way to victory.

Djokovic has equalled Roger Federer´s mark by reaching a 13th Wimbledon semi-final and is two wins from matching the Swiss star´s record of eight singles titles at the All England Club. Victory on Friday would take him to a 10th final at the tournament and 37th at the Slams.

At 37, Djokovic could also become the oldest Wimbledon champion of the modern era, an impressive achievement for a man who underwent knee surgery as recently as last month. This season he has lost his Australian Open and French Open titles and has yet to make a final on tour.

He was handed a free pass into Friday´s last-four when Alex de Minaur withdrew from their scheduled quarter-final with a hip injury. The Serb has been in feisty mood at Wimbledon accusing fans of disrespecting him in his last-16 win over Holger Rune.

“If somebody steps over the line, I react,” he said. Djokovic has a 5-1 winning record over Musetti, including a come-from-behind five-set victory at the French Open last month. That third-round match set the record for the latest finish at Roland Garros, with Djokovic completing victory at 3:07 in the morning.

Musetti, 22, also took Djokovic the distance in their first meeting at Roland Garros in 2021, when the Italian won the opening two sets of their last-16 tie before injury scuppered his hopes in the decider.