Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz delivered the Wimbledon final the world wants to see with a brutal, and at times breathtaking, demolition job on unfortunate Russian Daniil Medvedev on Friday, roaring to a 6-3 6-3 6-3 victory.
The 20-year-old phenomenon will now face a battle of the generations against 36-year-old seven-time champion Novak Djokovic, who earlier on Centre Court eased past Italian young gun Jannik Sinner to reach his 35th Grand Slam final.
For seven games under the roof this felt like it could be a contest as third seed Medvedev, who like Alcaraz was contesting his first Wimbledon semi-final, kept pace with the top seed.
But from the moment Alcaraz broke the Medvedev serve for a 5-3 lead in the opening set it felt as though he had the grandest stage in tennis all to himself for a virtuoso display.
Grand Slam semi-finals are supposed to be hard labour but at times world number one Alcaraz toyed with his opponent, working through his extensive arsenal of weapons to dismantle the 27-year-old in merciless fashion.
Two nonchalant service breaks sealed the second set and the Spaniard accelerated towards victory with another one early in the third set as Medvedev’s shoulders slumped.
Like a lion toying with its prey, the top seed offered back a couple of service breaks with some over-casual tennis but the respite was brief and Medvedev was put out of his misery in one hour and 50 minutes as Alcaraz seized on a drop shot and whipped away a forehand winner.
Source: Reuters
