Carlos Alcaraz overcame Daniil Medvedev in a stunning display of tennis in the semifinals of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships on Friday, downing the Russian to reach his second straight final at the tournament. The Spaniard is now one win away from completing the elusive Channel Slam — winning both the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back in the same calendar year.
Alcaraz started the contest in the back foot, going behind by two breaks in the opening set to fall 2-5 behind. Although the World No. 3 clawed his way back to level the contest at 5-5 and then take the set to the tiebreaker, Medevdev prevailed 7-6(1) to draw first blood.
From there on, it was the defending champion all the way. An early break of serve in the second set was enough, as he took the set 6-3 to even things on Center Court. A rapidly improving Alcaraz then took the third set 6-4, once again earning an early break and consolidating it afterwards.
In the fourth set, Carlos Alcaraz broke early again for a 1-0 lead, but got broken back immediately. The two then stayed on pace with each other until 3-3, when the 21-year-old broke serve to go 4-3 up. After that, he held on to take the set 6-4, and with it the match, after nearly three hours of play.
A win in Sunday’s final will see Alcaraz become only the sixth man to complete the Channel Slam in the Open Era, following in the footsteps of Rod Laver (1969), Bjorn Borg (1978, 1979 and 1980), Rafael Nadal (2008), Roger Federer (2009) and Novak Djokovic (2021).
