Carlos Alcaraz's magical run at Wimbledon came after he followed his French Open victory, a forerunner of charges through to press into the fourth round by stretching his winning streak to nine matches Wednesday. After an early hiccup, the Spaniard managed to overcome Australian Aleksandar Vukic in straight sets. Daniil Medvedev, seeded fifth, won through four sets against Alexandre Muller, and Ugo Humbert won in straight sets over Botic van de Zandschulp. Veteran Italian Fabio Fognini managed to defeat eighth-seeded Casper Ruud in four sets.
Alcaraz had a steep early testing experience, having gotten off the track a little after being 5-2 up in the first set against Vukic, who had defeated him years ago at Roland Garros. But the Spaniard fought back to clinch the set in a tie-break, largely cruising the rest of the way to win the match 7-6(5), 6-2, 6-2.
With 40 winners lighting up the scoreboard, Alcaraz said he had a good quality of tennis played on the lawns of Wimbledon. He made good use of the drop shot technique before wiping out Vukic with his powerful forehand strokes. The defending champion at Wimbledon now marches forward into a third-round clash against Frances Tiafoe, whom he beat last September in the semi-finals of the US Open.
Medvedev was made to work very hard for it, though; Muller, who had been down by a set and a break, regained the initiative and ruled the court to gain the win in their hard battle: 6-7(3), 7-6(4), 6-4, 7-5. Good from the baseline and serving well for the 30th tour-level win of the season for the Russian, it was.
Elsewhere, Humbert and Tiafoe also progressed in straight sets, and Fognini delighted with a straight-sets victory over Ruud, headlining the drama on a rain-delayed day at Wimbledon. Very much the underdog, Fognini grasped key moments as the 19th seed won 6-4, 7-5, 6-7(1), 6-3 to seal a third-round spot.
The journey for each player at Wimbledon continues, promising more exciting matches as the tournament goes on.
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