Carlos Alcaraz’s latest up-and-down Wimbledon performance began with a dropped set. Later Sunday, he was in danger of getting broken to fall further behind in the third. And then, as he so often does, Alcaraz seized the moment, produced some magic and moved closer to a third consecutive title at the All England Club.
Alcaraz stretched his winning streak in the grass-court Grand Slam tournament to 18 matches — and his unbeaten run across all events to 22 — by coming back to defeat No. 14 seed Andrey Rublev 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 at Centre Court and return to the quarterfinals.
Alcaraz, the No. 2 seed, earned his 75th major match win in 87 opportunities — equaling Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe as the fastest men in the Open era to 75 victories at majors.
In this fortnight’s first matchup between two men ranked in the top 20, Alcaraz brought out his best while down 3-2 in the third set. First, he needed to fend off a break chance for Rublev, doing so with a forehand passing winner.
After eventually holding to 3-all, Alcaraz earned his own break opportunity and didn’t let Rublev escape. On an eight-stroke exchange, Alcaraz sprinted from one corner of the court to the other and, with a stomp of his right foot and a bit of a slide, he flicked a crosscourt forehand winner.
Alcaraz spread his arms wide, pointed to his right ear and basked in the crowd’s loud adulation, the noise bouncing off the underside of the stadium’s closed roof.
Rublev sat in his sideline chair, looked up at his guest box and made an “OK” hand signal. Just 10 minutes later, that set belong to Alcaraz, who will face 2022 semifinalist Cam Norrie — the last British player in singles — on Tuesday for a berth in the semifinals.
“I always said that it’s just about belief in yourself,” Alcaraz said. “It doesn’t matter that you are one-set-to-love down. Tennis is a sport that can change in just one point. One point can change the match completely, turn around everything.”
At 22, Alcaraz already owns five Grand Slam trophies and will be making his 12th major quarterfinal appearance, matching the second most by any man before his 23rd birthday and trailing only Boris Becker’s 13.
Alcaraz hasn’t lost a match anywhere since April 20 against Holger Rune in the final at Barcelona.
ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
