No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, No.3 Daniil Medvedev Set For Wimbledon Semifinal

While Novak Djokovic remains a heavy favorite to win his eighth Wimbledon title and record-tying 24th Grand Slam crown, the second and third favorites will meet in the semifinals on Friday.

No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz and No. 3 Daniil Medvedev — the second- and third-betting favorites — advanced to a semifinal showdown in vastly different ways.

Medvedev trailed 27-year-old American sensation Chris Eubanks two sets to one before prevailing in five, 6-4, 1-6, 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-1, to end the storybook run of the Georgia Tech product and the last American standing.

Alcaraz, meantime, was able to get past No. 6 Holger Rune, 7-6(3), 6-4, 6-4, in easier fashion.

No. 2 Djokovic will face No. 8 Jannik Sinner in the other semifinal after both won on Tuesday. Djokovic is 2-0 against the Italian.

“Honestly, it’s amazing for me, it’s a dream since I started playing tennis, you know,” Alcaraz said of reaching his third straight major semifinal and backing up his grass court win at Queen’s Club.

“Making quarters of Wimbledon, it’s such a beautiful tournament, it’s such a great tournament. It’s a dream to be able to play a semifinal here, I think that I am playing great, a good level. It didn’t expect to play such a good level on this surface, but for me it’s crazy.”

Alcaraz (2022) and Medvedev (2021) are the last two U.S. Open champions, but are both into their first Wimbledon semifinals.

“Yeah, that means next match I’ll have to play on Centre Court,” Medvedev said after beating Eubanks on Court 1. “I didn’t win as many five-set matches in my career and here I have two, one coming from two sets to love down [over Marin Cilic in 2021], so yeah definitely, my favorite court maybe anywhere. So happy to be in the semifinals.”

The Russian, famous for standing well behind the baseline on the service return, made a strategic adjustment after trailing two sets to one by moving closer in on the Eubanks serve to cut off the angles and allow him to be more aggressive with his forehand and even mixed in a few drop shots.

He fired off 28 aces and won 79% of first-serve points.

“After first set, for sure I didn’t want to go five but after I lost the third set, I wanted to go five,” he cracked as the crowd laughed. “I had no other choice.”

Medvedev said of the second and third sets: “I started to do a lot of mistakes, not serving well enough, and actually in the third set, I started to build something and then it helped me in the fourth to just be there. I had more opportunities than him…And starting from the tiebreakers I managed to play amazing and I’m really happy about it.”

For Eubanks, he was the last American man or woman standing after making a stunning run that included wins over Cam Norrie, a semifinalist a year ago, in the second round and No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas in the fourth. He had won nine straight grass court matches coming into the quarters.

“I have to admit, I thought that we’d see a run from an American player this year at Wimbledon,” Patrick McEnroe said ahead of the quarterfinal. “[Frances] Tiafoe, [Tayl0r] Fritz, maybe [Sebastian] Korda, I didn’t expect it to be this guy, but man, this has been a fun ride.”

Eubanks had earned $622,275 in prize money coming into Wimbledon in 2023. For reaching the quarters, he will take home $430,347.

In a matchup of two 20-year-olds — the first Wimbledon quarterfinal of its kind — Alcaraz won for the 17th time in 18 matches. He closed out Rune in straight sets, winning the match with a service winner that Rune sent deep.

Alcaraz hit 35 winners against 13 unforced errors and won 79% of his first-serve points.

“It was tough. At the beginning, I was really, really nervous playing the quarterfinal here in Wimbledon and even more playing against Rune, someone the same age as mine and playing a great level, it was tough to play against him,” Alcaraz said.

“Once you get into the court, it’s no friends. You have to be focused on yourself and I think I did great in that part.”

Medvedev and Alcaraz are 1-1 head-to-head, including a straight-sets win by Medvedev in the second round of Wimbledon in 2021.

“It’s going to be a really tough one,” Alcaraz said. “I think his game fits really well on grass but right now I’m going to enjoy this moment…and I’m going to prepare once the match is closer.”