Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Sports

Carlos Alcaraz beats Taylor Fritz, advances to Wimbledon final

World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz will play for a third consecutive Wimbledon title after a four-set semifinal win over American Taylor Fritz.

Alcaraz earned the 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) victory in a match that lasted two hours and 49 minutes.

Alcaraz showed a dominant serve throughout the contest, winning 88% of his first serve points and allowing Fritz to break him just once during the match. While the American’s break came at an opportune time and allowed him to win the second set, the Spaniard responded by winning a whopping 94% of his service points in the match’s critical third set.

‘This is my dream – stepping on these beautiful courts and playing tennis in the most beautiful tournaments in the world,’ Alcaraz told reporters. ‘That’s all I try to think at every tournament and why I try to bring the joy to the courts.’

Fritz battled hard in the fourth set and had multiple set points in their tiebreaker after earning a mini-break over Alcaraz. Nonetheless, the 22-year-old staved them off, re-took control of the match and battled back to win the set and deny the American his second-career major final appearance.

Now, Alcaraz will look to become the 17th man to win at least three Wimbledon singles titles in the event’s 148-year history. The 22-year-old will play face Jannik Sinner in the final.

Alcaraz has beaten Djokovic in the Wimbledon finals in back-to-back seasons but sports a career record of 3-5 against the Serbian star. The five-time major winner has had more consistent success against Sinner, logging an 8-4 career record against him and upsetting the top-seeded talent in five sets in the final at the 2025 French Open.

Meanwhile, Fritz’s defeat continues the ignominious drought of American winners in the men’s singles draw at Wimbledon. Pete Sampras was the last American man to win Wimbledon. He did so in 2000, with a four-set win over Australian Patrick Rafter.

Since then, an American has only made the grass-court Grand Slam final three times, with the last being Andy Roddick in 2009. And no American man has won a major since Roddick’s victory at the 2003 US Open.

This story was updated with hew information

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

    You May Also Like

    Politics

    Sister Stephanie Schmidt had a hunch about what her fellow nuns would discuss over dinner at their Erie, Pennsylvania, monastery on Wednesday night. The...

    Politics

    In the final three weeks of the presidential race, former president Donald Trump and his advisers have attacked one particular foe more than three...

    Politics

    A former deputy Palm Beach County sheriff who fled to Moscow and became one of the Kremlin’s most prolific propagandists is working directly with...

    Politics

    DULUTH, Ga. — Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson warmed up the crowd at Donald Trump’s rally here Wednesday night with a dark metaphor,...