Alcaraz breezes past Norrie to move into third consecutive Wimbledon semi-final

Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz swept aside the challenge of home hope Cameron Norrie, beating the Briton 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals of Wimbledon for the third consecutive year.

The Spaniard was typically imperious throughout, with the gulf in class evident from the start of the contest.

Four break points in Alcaraz’s opening service game was an anomaly rather than an indicator of the match to come, as Norrie could only muster one more break point for the remainder of the encounter.

Alcaraz saved all four of those initial opportunities for the Briton, before breaking in the very next game en route to a clinical 6-2 first-set win in just 28 minutes.

Two further breaks in the second set and a sole break in the third were more than enough for Alcaraz to ease into a third straight Wimbledon semi-final as the last home hope in this year’s singles was ended for another year.

“I am really happy. To be able to play another semi-final here at Wimbledon is really special,” Alcaraz said in his on-court interview.

“I want to go as far as I can and I am really happy with the level I played today against a really difficult player like Cam. He is an amazing guy. No one works harder than him and it is nice to see him fighting for great things.”

Alcaraz will take on Taylor Fritz, the No 5 seed, in the last four, with the American having reached his maiden Wimbledon semi-final earlier in the day with a four-set win over Karen Khachanov.

Ahead of his victory, the 22-year-old Spaniard won against Russian Andrey Rublev, the No 14 seed (6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4), German Jan-Lennard Struff (6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4), English qualifier Oliver Tarvet (6-1, 6-4, 6-4) and Italian Fabio Fognini (7-5, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 2-6, 6-1).

Norrie, ranked No 61, defeated Chilean qualifier Nicolas Jarry (6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (7), 6-7 (5), 6-3), Italian Mattia Bellucci (7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-3), American Frances Tiafoe, the No 12 seed (4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-5) and Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut (6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3)) earlier in the tournament.

London (Grand Slam), other last-eight results (All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, grass, GBP 53.500.000, most recent results first):

• Flavio Cobolli vs. Novak Djokovic
• Jannik Sinner vs. Ben Shelton
• Taylor Fritz beat Karen Khachanov (17): 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (4)