Carlos Alcaraz had a serious scare in a five-set duel but emerged with his confidence renewed after some inspired play to overwhelm Frances Tiafoe in their thrilling third-round contest, before home hopeful Emma Raducanu notched another top-10 win as she outplayed Maria Sakkari on Centre Court.
Tiafoe pushes Alcaraz to the brink, champ responds
Alcaraz [3] bt. Tiafoe 5-7, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2
Defending men’s champion Carlos Alcaraz needed to conjure up some of his best late, fending off an inspired Frances Tiafoe as he recovered from a set down – twice – overwhelming the 2022 US Open semifinalist in a five-set battle on Centre Court.
Finishing with a deft drop shot winner, he returns to the competition’s last-16 for a third consecutive year having improved his deciding set record in Majors to 12-1 in the process – Matteo Berrettini still the only man to beat him over the distance.
At one stage, he was just six points from the exit door at SW19 against a friend in Tiafoe whose stuttering form entering this fortnight quickly proved merely a footnote given some of the American’s shotmaking, crafty skills and ability to entertain.
The 21-year-old Spaniard, who won his first Roland Garros title last month, plays France’s Ugo Humbert next after the #16 seed outlasted Brandon Nakashima in four sets – three needed tiebreaks over two days after rain suspended play overnight.
Speaking of, Alcaraz produced an excellent fourth set breaker under duress and rode that momentum in another tense encounter against Nakashima’s compatriot.
“It’s obviously always a big challenge facing Frances, a really talented player and showed it once again, he deserves to be in the top fighting for big things, it was really difficult for me to adapt my game, find solutions putting him in trouble but really happy at the end.
There were a lot of 15-30, 0-30 service games… I was just thinking to fight one more ball, thinking about the next point, I always tell myself to go for it. If you lose, it’s okay but I have to feel that I went for it all the time and that happened once again [today].”
Raducanu, free swing or not, relishes fun again
Emma Raducanu is back into the fourth-round at Wimbledon after a 6-2, 6-3 win over #9 seed Maria Sakkari – her second top-10 win in nine days – serving well and quickly overwhelming the Greek, during another evening where the 28-year-old would’ve felt a jarring sense of deja vu against a talented underdog she was expected to beat.
Tension consumed the two-time Major semi-finalist from the opening game, keen to banish her third-round hoodoo in south London against a home favourite everyone willed to win and almost playing every shot with the 2021 US Open champion.
She fell at this hurdle three times before against Johanna Konta (2017), Elina Svitolina (2019) and Tatjana Maria (2021) so it felt pointed that Konta, on BBC commentary this fortnight, hailed her improved consistency since their meeting.
It wasn’t on show here, evidenced by her 31 unforced errors and failing to take any of her seven break point chances during a 90-minute match where it felt like everyone was holding their breath – one Raducanu slip, a Sakkari roar could’ve shifted the momentum in the more experienced player’s favour without warning. It didn’t.
2021 champion and now-retired Ashleigh Barty was questioning her inability to find a plan B, which was again the case three years prior at Flushing Meadows.
Simply put, Raducanu’s defensive skills and movement didn’t allow her much to establish different tactics nor change the rhythm of a match quickly slipping away.
Six double-faults and a struggling first serve didn’t help, nor did an error-prone tendency during their longer rally exchanges – serving as renewed Raducanu enthusiasm and giving the Centre Court crowd something to consistently cheer.
Having woken up with wrist soreness today, she’s withdrawn from mixed doubles with the retiring Andy Murray. Up next in singles, she faces an unknown quantity in New Zealand-Swiss qualifier Lulu Sun on Sunday for a quarter-final berth, after the 23-year-old edged two tiebreak sets (7-4, 8-6) against China’s Lin Zhu elsewhere.
Picture source: Getty Images, quotes via BBC TV
Mo and Sports 