Alcaraz handles Fritz, returns to Wimbledon final

WIMBLEDON, England -- Carlos Alcaraz moved within one victory of a third consecutive Wimbledon championship and sixth Grand Slam title overall at age 22 by defeating Taylor Fritz 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (6) on Friday.

The No. 2-seeded Alcaraz takes a 24-match winning streak into the final Sunday, when he will face either No. 1 Jannik Sinner or 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic. They were playing later Friday.

"Not thinking about the winning streak. Not thinking about the results at all. Thinking about ... my dream," Alcaraz said. "Right now, I don't want to think about Sunday, to be honest. I just want to enjoy this moment, enjoy that I qualified [for] another final."

Alcaraz beat Djokovic in the 2023 and 2024 title matches at the All England Club and is 5-0 in major finals. That includes a five-set comeback win over Sinner at the French Open a month ago.

The fifth-seeded Fritz, the runner-up to Sinner at last year's US Open, was trying to become the first American man in the Wimbledon final since Andy Roddick lost to Roger Federer in 2009.

Fritz had two chances to force a fifth set against Alcaraz, leading 6-4 in the tiebreaker. But Alcaraz collected the next four points to finish off the win, then rocked back on his heels, spread his arms wide and screamed.

"I'm just really proud about the way that I stayed calm," Alcaraz said, "and then [was] thinking clearly."

That wasn't the only time Fritz made things interesting. He accumulated more total points than Alcaraz through the first two sets, and he finished with more winners -- 44 to 38 -- and 19 total aces to 13.

When Alcaraz double-faulted, then missed a forehand, to drop the second, they were even at a set apiece.

But with five-time Wimbledon champion Bjorn Borg and celebrities such as Anna Wintour and Leonardo DiCaprio looking on, Alcaraz quickly recovered from that lapse, marking some of his best shots with a shout of "Vamos!" or a raised index finger. He never faced a break point the rest of the way, while stealing two of Fritz's service games in the third set.

Even when Fritz did get an opportunity to get back into things, Alcaraz was ready. In the fourth set's first game, Alcaraz provided Fritz a bit of an opening by missing two forehands for love-30. But Alcaraz shut that door just as quickly with four points in a row, including a 134 mph ace and 135 mph service winner.

Amid the tension of the tiebreaker, Fritz took time to delicately lift a butterfly off the grass and out of harm's way. Soon, he had grabbed five straight points to reach the precipice of going to a fifth set. But Alcaraz never let Fritz get any closer, forcing four errors.

The temperature topped 85 degrees Fahrenheit, with no clouds to offer protection from the sun. For the second consecutive day, spectators had trouble in the heat; there were two brief delays in one second-set game while fans needed to be helped.

The pop of a champagne cork could be heard in the stands just before the start, and Alcaraz burst out of the gate, taking 10 of the initial 12 points, including a break for a 1-0 lead. That game featured glimpses of why Alcaraz is so great already. Indeed, the very first point was illustrative: He returned a 135 mph serve, then capped a 10-stroke exchange with a delicate drop shot.

There would soon be a forehand winner, then a good return that drew a netted response by Fritz. A return of a 128 mph serve that found chalk led to a net-cord winner for the break.

More was to come in a terrific set for Alcaraz. He even managed to out-serve Fritz, delivering six aces and 20 of his 24 service points while reaching 137 mph. Alcaraz won the point on all three of his serve-and-volley tries, including one perfect stop volley. By the end, Alcaraz was 31-for-41 when at the net.

To be clear, Fritz played exceedingly well himself, conjuring a quality with his neon-orange racket frame that would have been good enough to overcome most any foe on grass.