2024-07-10 13:06:16
Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev (5th) gave the surprise of the day at Wimbledon and eliminated the Italian and world number 1, Jannik Sinner, to reach the semi-finals of the third Grand Slam of the season, where he will face the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz (3rd), who beat the American Tommy Paul (12th).
The Muscovite played a great match in which the power of his shots predominated, as well as the patience to elaborate each point to win 6-7(7), 6-4, 7-6(4), 2-6 and 6-3 after four hours of play.
This will be Medvedev’s second semi-final at Wimbledon, after reaching it last year, where he was defeated by Spaniard Alcaraz.
His rival in this instance will be precisely Alcaraz, defending champion on the London grass and third seed in the tournament, who beat the American Paul by 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 and 6-2.
Alcaraz is coming off his third Grand Slam title at Roland Garros, at just 21 years old, and wants to continue showing that he is ready to make tennis history.
There are not many Spaniards who have made it to the final rounds of Wimbledon throughout history, and even fewer who have managed to advance to the semi-finals on several occasions. One of them is Carlos Alcaraz, who returned to this round in London on Tuesday, just as he did last year.
The reigning grass-court Grand Slam champion defeated Tommy Paul, a player who was inspired on the surface – he was 9-0 before the Wimbledon quarter-finals – 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 in three hours and 10 minutes on Centre Court.
In this way, Alcaraz became the third player from his country to reach the semi-finals of the tournament on multiple occasions, along with Rafael Nadal (eight appearances) and Manuel Santana (two).
In addition, the 21-year-old from Murcia equalled his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero and David Ferrer with six appearances in the semi-finals of a Grand Slam tournament, placing him in third place in history among Spanish players.
Alcaraz has shared his six Grand Slam semi-finals with two appearances in this round at Roland Garros (2023, 2024 champion), Wimbledon (2023 champion, 2024) and US Open (2022 champion, 2023).
To qualify for the top four in London, he had to beat one of the most in-form rivals on this grass-court tour and one of the players he has had the most trouble beating in recent times.
Paul, who was trying to advance to the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time, arrived at the event as the reigning Queen’s champion. Meanwhile, the Lexus ATP Head2Head was tied 2-2, with all the precedents being on hard courts and in ATP Masters 1000 territory.
The match between two players with a great harmony with the surface did not disappoint, as both players gave their all on every inch of the court. Especially in the sixth game, which lasted for almost twenty minutes and Alcaraz gave up on him after 9 equal points (3-3). Before that, they had already exchanged a break each.
But it was precisely the determination to take advantage of the break opportunities that made the difference in the first set. The Spaniard only managed to convert one of the nine he had, while the American scored two in six attempts. And so, with the score at 7-5, Paul closed out the opening set in one hour and twelve minutes.
The Wimbledon quarter-finals will continue on Wednesday, with matches between Novak Djokovic (2nd) and Alex de Minaur (9th), and Taylor Fritz (13th) against Lorenzo Musetti (25th).