Carlos Alcaraz's Wimbledon win
streak reaches 18. Sabalenka gets to another Slam quarterfinal
[July 07, 2025]
By HOWARD FENDRICH
LONDON (AP) — 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 current unbeaten run across all
events to 22 — by coming back to beat No. 14 seed Andrey Rublev 6-7
(5), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 at Centre Court to return to the quarterfinals.
In this fortnight's first matchup between two men ranked in the top
20, No. 2 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 cross-court forehand winner.
Oh, did he relish that one. 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 a sarcastic “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 final
four.
“I always said that it’s just about belief in yourself. It doesn’t
matter that you are one-set-to-love down,” Alcaraz said. “Tennis is
a sport that can change in just one point. One point can change the
match completely, turn around everything.”
The 61st-ranked Norrie, who played college tennis at TCU in Fort
Worth, Texas, advanced with a 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (7), 6-7 (5), 6-3
win over qualifier Nicolas Jarry, who hit 46 aces. Norrie had a
chance to close things out much earlier than he did but failed to
convert a match point while ahead 6-5 in the third-set tiebreaker.
The other men’s quarterfinal Tuesday will be No. 5 Taylor Fritz vs.
No. 17 Karen Khachanov. Fritz, last year’s U.S. Open runner-up, had
a short day because his opponent, Jordan Thompson, quit after about
40 minutes with back and leg injuries that he’d been dealing with
throughout the tournament.
Alcaraz is just 22 and already owns five Grand Slam trophies, the
latest arriving in June at the French Open. He hasn’t lost a match
anywhere since April 20 against Holger Rune in the final at
Barcelona.
[to top of second column] |
Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus uses an ice pack to keep cool during a
change of ends break as she plays Belgium's Elise Mertens during a
fourth round women's singles match at the Wimbledon Tennis
Championships in London, Sunday, July 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Alastair
Grant)
There have been lapses, of course, including when
Alcaraz fell behind by two sets against No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the
final at Roland-Garros. Or when the Spaniard lost four points in a
row after going up 5-3 in the opening tiebreaker against Rublev.
He hasn’t been as close-to-perfect as others over the past week:
Sinner, No. 10 Ben Shelton and No. 22 Flavio Cobolli haven’t dropped
a set heading into their fourth-round contests.
So, sure, Alcaraz has ceded five sets already, but all that matters
is that he hasn’t lost a match.
What else happened at Wimbledon on Sunday?
No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka reached the quarterfinals at her 11th
consecutive Grand Slam tournament, defeating No. 24 Elise Mertens
6-4, 7-6 (4), and will play unseeded Laura Siegemund, the
37-year-old German who followed up her elimination of Australian
Open champ Madison Keys by beating lucky loser Solana Sierra 6-3,
6-2. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova overcame a missed call late in the
first set — when the electronic system accidentally was off — and
beat Sonay Kartal 7-6 (3), 6-4 to return to the grass-court major's
quarterfinals for the first time in nine years. Pavlyuchenkova's
opponent Tuesday will be Amanda Anisimova, the 13th-seeded American
who got past No. 30 Linda Noskova 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 at night.
Who plays at the All England Club on Monday?
Monday's fourth-rounders include Novak Djokovic against No. 11 Alex
de Minaur at 1:30 p.m. local time (8:30 a.m. ET). They were supposed
to face each other in last year's quarterfinals at Wimbledon, but de
Minaur was forced to withdraw with a hip injury. That'll be followed
at Centre Court by Mirra Andreeva vs. Emma Navarro, and then Sinner
vs. No. 19 Grigor Dimitrov.
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