Wimbledon 2023: Alcaraz overcomes Jarry’s challenge; Medvedev shrugs off early scare

World No.1 Carlos Alcaraz lost a set but came back to overcome a stiff challenge from Nicolas Jarry of Chile, reaching the fourth round in men’s singles at Wimbledon for the second time.

Playing under the roof on Centre Court, the Spaniard quelled Jarry’s attack to advance 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3, 7-5 after a three-hour and 56 minutes battle in the neb’s singles third round.

Alcaraz rallied from a break down in the fourth set, moving quickly across the court to show off his defensive skills before he turned the table by unleashing his own relentless power game.

Alcaraz is now 43-4 in the season and is aiming to become the third youngest player to win the men’s singles title at Wimbledon, joining 17-year-old Boris Becker and 20-year-old Bjorn Borg. The top seed will continue his quest against former finalist Matteo Berrettini or 19-time tour-level titlist Alexander Zverev on Monday.

If Alcaraz captures his second major title this fortnight, the 2022 US Open champion is guaranteed to remain at No. 1 in the ATP Rankings.

While Alcaraz advanced, third seed Daniil Medvedev also reached the fourth round getting the better of Hungarian powerhouse Marton Fucsovics to advance to the fourth round.

Medvedev, who has won five titles and leads the tour with 44 match wins, advanced to the second week of a major for the first time this year with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory in three hours and four minutes.

It was a well-fought encounter under the closed roof on No.1 Court as both players as they displayed a range of power hitting, inventive shot-making, drop shots, athletic court coverage and regular forays to the net, the ATP Tour said in a report on its website.

Fucsovics took the fight to Medvedev early, erasing two break points in his opening service game before aggressive returning underpinned his break of Medvedev to go ahead 2-1, a lead he did not relinquish en route to claiming the first set.

Fucsovics exploited Medvedev’s deep-court return and rally positions with consistent net approaches and well-timed serve/volley plays. He was aggressive on return but his deeper rally position made it difficult for the former World No. 1 to hit winners and drew Medvedev into a high number of unforced errors (10 in the first set alone).

However, Medvedev could not be denied on Saturday as he tightened his game after losing the first set and made a comeback.

After 21 unforced errors in the first two sets, Medvedev went into lockdown mode in the third, playing some of his best tennis of the match with 10 winners to just six unforced errors, missing just six first serves in the set.

Medvedev next plays 21-year-old Czech Jiri Lehecka, who advanced to the fourth round with a 6-2, 7-6(2), 6-7(5), 6-7(9), 6-2 victory against 16th seed Tommy Paul.

In the first matchup between Medvedev and Lehecka, the Czech will bid for his second major quarterfinal after reaching that stage at the Australian Open to kickstart his 2023 season.

(IANS)