Alcaraz on course for Djokovic Wimbledon showdown

LONDON — Carlos Alcaraz stayed on track for a Wimbledon title showdown against defending champion Novak Djokovic on Wednesday as Ons Jabeur avenged her painful defeat in last year’s final.

Spanish World No. 1 Alcaraz was in imperious form as he swept aside his friend Holger Rune 7-6 (7/3), 6-4, 6-4 to set up a semifinal against Daniil Medvedev.

Alcaraz faced just one break point in the entire quarterfinal, which he snuffed out, hitting 35 winners against 13 unforced errors.

“Honestly, it is amazing for me,” said Alcaraz. “It’s been a dream since I started playing tennis.”

The US Open champion, who now has 10 straight wins on grass, was delighted with his performance against his fellow 20-year-old.

“I am playing at a great level. I didn’t expect to play a great level on this surface,” he said. “For me, it is crazy.”

He said he found it tough at the beginning of the match, especially with Rune on the other side of the net.

“But once you get into the quarterfinals there’s no friends,” he added. “You have to be focused on yourself and I think I did great in that part.”

Alcaraz is the youngest semifinalist at Wimbledon since Djokovic in 2007 but next up on Friday is a tough-looking encounter with third seed Medvedev.

The Russian saw off a feisty challenge from unseeded American Christopher Eubanks to win 6-4, 1-6, 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-1.

Eubanks, who had shocked fifth-ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas in the previous round, was attempting to become just the third man to reach the semifinals on debut.

However, the 27-year-old’s challenge fizzled out in the final stages of a bruising, big-hitting contest.

Jabeur’s revenge

In a repeat of the 2022 title match, Tunisian sixth seed Jabeur came from behind to beat defending champion Elena Rybakina 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-1 in their quarterfinal.

Both players broke twice in the first set before the Kazakh third seed took the tie-break.

But Rybakina cracked in the 10th game of the second set, allowing Jabeur to level the match and the Tunisian maintained her momentum to storm to victory.

“Crazy match, difficult match but I’m glad that I got the win this time,” said the 28-year-old, who admitted she had not been able to watch her defeat last year because it was too painful.

“I wasn’t ready to play this kind of match [last year],” she said. “I don’t regret last year. It happened for a reason. I always say it. 

“It was meant to be this year. It was meant to be in the quarterfinals. I have learned a lot from the final last year. Definitely very proud of myself for the improvement that I did mentally, physically, and with the tennis racquet.”

Meanwhile, Alcaraz insisted his father was just “a huge fan of tennis” after he reportedly filmed Djokovic in a training session at Wimbledon.

Spanish top seed Alcaraz admitted “probably it is true” when asked about the issue in his post-match press conference.

“My father is a huge fan of tennis,” he said.

“He doesn’t only watch my matches. I think he gets into the club at 11am, gets out at 10pm, watching matches, watching practice from everyone. 

“Being able to watch Djokovic in real life, yeah, probably it is true he’s filmed the sessions.”

But he denied any filming would give him a competitive advantage.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “I mean, I have a lot of videos from Djokovic on every platform. I think it’s not an advantage for me.”

The World No. 1 said he was looking forward to his last-four clash against Russian third seed Medvedev.

“He’s playing great here on grass,” he said. “He has had a great, great year as well... but I am going to enjoy the semifinal. 

“I think I’m playing great, a lot of confidence right now. So it’s going to be a really good match I think.”