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Wimbledon: Alcaraz demolishes Medvedev to reach 'dream' final with Djokovic and says he believes he will win

The 20-year-old phenomenon will now face a battle of the generations against the 36-year-old seven-time champion

Published: Fri 14 Jul 2023, 10:13 PM

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  • Reuters

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Spain's Carlos Alcaraz celebrates beating Russia's Daniil Medvedev on Friday. - AFP

Spain's Carlos Alcaraz celebrates beating Russia's Daniil Medvedev on Friday. - AFP

Spain's Carlos Alcaraz delivered the Wimbledon final the world wants to see with a brutal demolition job on Russia's Daniil Medvedev on Friday, racing 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 Jannik Sinner to reach his 35th Grand Slam final.


"It’s a dream for me playing in a semi-final here," he said on Centre Court.

"What can I say. Everyone knows the legend he is.

"He is going to be really difficult. I will fight. That’s myself. I will believe in myself, I will believe I can beat him here." he added.

"I saw that he is unbeaten here since 2013 on this court so it's going to be challenging but I am ready for this.

"It will be special playing against Novak but it is a final. There's no time to be afraid, no time to be tired," said the Spaniard

"I will go for it and lets see what happens."

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 to himself with a virtuoso display.

At times it looked as though Alcaraz was toying 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, Alcaraz offered back a couple of service breaks with some over-casual tennis but the respite was brief and an out-classed Medvedev was put out of his misery in one hour and 50 minutes.

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Alcaraz is the third Spaniard to reach the Wimbledon men's singles final after Manuel Santana and Rafa Nadal and the fourth youngest in the professional era.

Djokovic, who overwhelmed Alcaraz in the French Open semi-finals last month, is bidding to become the oldest men's singles champion and match Margaret Court's all-time record of 24 Grand Slams.



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