Alcaraz Goes on the Offensive

Carlos Alcaraz is now at the optimal level required to contend for a Grand Slam victory. The Spaniard, who had been advancing with minimal effort until these last sixteen, played his best match of the tournament by far and overcame the resilient Andrey Rublev (6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4) to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the third consecutive year.

Though not entirely brilliant, Alcaraz had clawed his way to these last sixteen, and when he saw the enemy fire, embodied in Rublev's powerful shots, intensify, he brought out his best game to dismantle the Russian, who managed to challenge the Spaniard's resilience for several minutes.

Rublev seems to have found the key to calmness in this tournament, as evidenced by the fact that, despite losing by a few details, he did not take it out on his racket, his bench, or his fist, which he has often slammed against the strings of his racket.

After winning a first set that swung back and forth—Rublev first had a 4-1 lead and then Alcaraz had two serves in the tie-break to finish it—the Russian remained stable but could not cope with an Alcaraz who is clearly superior.

In the moments that decided the match, the Spaniard rose to the occasion, while the Muscovite shrank. Two poor games in the second and third sets sealed Alcaraz's victory. Rublev, unable to hit his target of opportunities, opened the door twice for the Spaniard, and on both occasions, he slipped through.

The third set was particularly beautiful and interesting, when Alcaraz won one of the points of the tournament with a defense involving four shots from side to side, which he concluded with a passing shot from practically the stands.

"Tennis is a sport where everything can change in a single point. The entire match can change. What you have to do is stay mentally strong throughout the match," explained Alcaraz, who sees room for improvement even in nearly perfect matches.

"I knew I was going to play better than in the first set and that I would have to seize the opportunities. I think the break in the second set changed everything, and I started to feel much more comfortable," he added.

With the 2-1 lead, Rublev was haunted by the ghosts of the past, the cartload of disappointments he carries at 27 years old. Despite being a Masters 1000 champion, he cannot beat the best in the top tournaments. He has crashed out all eleven times he has faced a top 5 player in a Grand Slam and is the only one in history to always lose when reaching the quarter-finals (0-10).

In the fourth set, trying to scrape something from Alcaraz and test his physical endurance, Rublev did not have a single break point. He only managed to force a deuce in the last game, and with one break, which could have been two had he been more precise, Alcaraz sealed a match that even Emma Raducanu came to watch for several games.

The Spaniard, the youngest to reach twelve Grand Slam quarter-finals, will now face a Briton, Cameron Norrie, who won in four and a half hours against Nicolás Jarry (6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (7), 6-7 (5), 6-3). Norrie and Alcaraz know each other well and have faced each other six times on the circuit. Alcaraz won four matches and Norrie two, in Cincinnati 2022, before the Spaniard won his first Grand Slam, and in Rio de Janeiro 2023, when he was injured.