Carlos Alcaraz punched his ticket to the Wimbledon semifinals, where he’ll face Taylor Fritz—and he’s already made his intentions clear heading into Friday’s clash.
Carlos Alcaraz is one step closer to defending his Wimbledon crown for a third straight year. The reigning champion powered past British hopeful Cameron Norrie in the quarterfinals, setting up a high-stakes semifinal showdown with American standout Taylor Fritz.
Fritz, who defeated Karen Khachanov to book his spot in the final four, enters this matchup in top form. The World No. 5 captured grass-court titles in both Stuttgart and Eastbourne leading into Wimbledon, making him one of the most dangerous players on the surface this season. In fact, Fritz shares a unique distinction with Novak Djokovic as the only active players with more than five titles on grass.
Alcaraz, a three-time Wimbledon semifinalist at just 21 years old, knows exactly what kind of battle awaits him. “He’s playing great,” Alcaraz said of Fritz, via the ATP Tour official page. “He’s been really successful: Two titles, semi-finals here at Wimbledon”.
“I’m just going to be ready for that battle. It’s always tough to play against him. I will just focus, but right now I want to enjoy and live this moment because it’s really not easy to play the semi-finals here,” Alcaraz continued.
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The five-time Grand Slam champion is riding a wave of momentum of his own. With 23 straight match wins, Alcaraz is in the midst of the longest winning streak of his career. Statistically, he holds the edge over Fritz, having won both of their previous meetings.
Alcaraz reflects on his quarterfinal win
Alcaraz cruised past Norrie in straight sets—6-2, 6-3, 6-3—to become just the second active player, alongside Djokovic, to reach the Wimbledon semifinals at least three times.
“I’m just really happy to be able to play another semi-final here at Wimbledon,” said Alcaraz. “It’s something really special and something that I wanted to do at the beginning of the week”.
“I’m really happy with the level that I played today against a difficult player like Cam. I’m pretty sure that there is nobody working harder than him, so I’m happy to see him playing these kinds of matches,” he added.
