Carlos Alcaraz defeats Rune and will play in the Wimbledon semifinals

Tennis needs a king for the future and Carlos Alcaraz He has all the ballots to win the crown. And maybe not for too long. In the duel of contemporary talents against Holger’s rune, The Spaniard triumphed decisively (7-6 (3), 6-4 and 6-4) and will play his first semi-final at Wimbledon this Friday against the Russian Daniel Medvedev.

Rune, the diamond of the sport and the opposite of Murcia in character, succumbed to the strength and consistency of Alcaraz, who screamed with rage to score the all-important first set, the one that decided the match and the one that marked the future of the rivalry that will be historic.

Because Alcaraz and Rune showed an exchange from the bottom that saw its culmination in the tiebreaker of that first set, where nerves pierced the Dane, with a large army in the stands, but with fewer weapons on the track.

When the important moment came, Alcaraz’s racket did not tremble. That’s how Murcian saved a reversal in the first game and two 0-30s, with 4-4 and 5-5, until the penalty undecided.

After several line balls and errors for each side, Rune dug the grave with a devastating double fault at 3-3. It was a moment of maximum equality and Rune, who had never made it past the quarterfinals of such a tournament, fell unconscious.

7-6 gave wings to the Spaniard, who never gave up and waited for Rune’s firecracker to arrive. “He’s a little nervous,” Alcaraz said in preview, and the doubts assailed him at 4-4 and 30-30, another decisive moment for the set. He break The Dane rebounded in his court, and Alcaraz confirmed the break with a winning backhand return. Demoralizing for Rune, who played no worse than Alcaraz, but in just over an hour and a half he was one set away from leaving London.

Offering no cracks or gaps, Alcaraz did not downshift and once again took advantage of the first break opportunity at his disposal. Enough to use his box to disarm an angry Rune who had been warned for wasting time and had lost the present in a future duel.

Rune missed a lot (21 unforced against Alcaraz’s thirteen), was imprecise at the net (18 out of 31 points won) and failed to damage the Spaniard’s serve and won only 22 points on serve. He could not maintain the necessary regularity in this style of play and it shows that, despite the fact that his quality may be comparable to that of Murciano, his head is still a long way off at the best of times.

Alcaraz is already the youngest Wimbledon semifinalist since Novak Djokovic in 2007 and the seventh Spaniard in history to reach this round, after Rafael Nadal (8), Manolo Santana (2), Manuel Alonso-Areyzaga, Roberto Bautista, Andrés Gimen and Manuel Orantes ( 1).

Murcian will face Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals, who could beat Christopher Eubanks in the quarterfinals, and whom he already beat in the Indian Wells final a few months ago. The Russian, however, beat him on Court 1 two years ago at the same tournament. Of course, it was a very different Alcaraz, still far from the superstar level he now displays.