Alcaraz blazes past Norrie into Wimbledon semi-finals
Carlos Alcaraz said ahead of his Wimbledon quarter-final against Cameron Norrie that playing the left-handed British player can be a nightmare and for a few minutes it looked as though the defending champion might be in for a fright on Tuesday.
The Spaniard fell 0-40 down in his opening service game against the unseeded Norrie on Centre Court, but quickly snapped out of his slumber to seal a 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 victory that should send shudders down the spine of anyone hoping to de-throne him.
There were hundreds of empty seats at the start as fans sought refreshment after watching women's top seed Aryna Sablaneka's protracted last-eight victory.
By the time most of them returned to cheer on the underdog, Alcaraz was in full flow having blazed through the opening set in 28 minutes with a barrage of brilliance.
The tone was set and although Norrie tried his best to dig in, raising his fist in mock triumph as he held serve late in the third set, Alcaraz mercilessly extended his current match winning streak to 23.
Alcaraz, 22, reached his eighth Grand Slam semi-final and will continue his quest for a third successive Wimbledon title against American Taylor Fritz.
Sabalenka survives Siegemund spell to reach semis
Aryna Sabalenka was dragged into a bygone era on Tuesday and tormented for almost three hours on Wimbledon’s Centre Court before finally imposing her 21st-century power game to beat mesmeric Laura Siegemund for a place in the semi-finals.
The Belarusian needed all her powers of ball bludgeoning and belief to emerge from a befuddling battle, somehow the victor, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
For much of the spell-binding contest it looked as though the world number one would find no answers to Siegemund’s sorcery as the 37-year-old German veteran chipped, chopped and drop-shotted the world’s best player to pieces, leaving the top seed's power game neutered on the turf.
Ranked a lowly 104 in the world, Siegemund drew on the game of a gentler age to bring low the mighty Belarusian, casting spells of slice and sleight with vintage flair.
But slowly, if not exactly surely, the 10 years younger and seemingly stronger Sabalenka managed to wrestle back the upper hand, and now awaits either 13th seed Amanda Anisimova or Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova for a place in Saturday’s final.
“I need some time to recover... She pushed me so much and honestly after the first set I was just like looking at my box thinking like, 'Guys I mean like book the tickets you know, I think we're about to leave this beautiful city, country, place'.
“But wow she played an incredible tournament, an incredible match and I'm just super happy right now with the win and, oh my god guys, like atmosphere -- it's just another level.”
For Siegemund, this was not the performance of a player whose previous Wimbledon record amounted to three first-round exits and a solitary second-round finish.
Everything about the German evoked nostalgia.
The ball left her racket not with a thud, but a sigh -- a soft brushstroke rather than a blunt strike. Serves landed halfway up the box before spinning wide; forehands floated underspun onto the baseline.
It may have looked delicate, but it was anything but harmless -- as Sabalenka discovered to her mounting despair.
All the skills honed through a career rich in doubles nous -- three Grand Slam titles across women's and mixed -- were on full display: low, skimming returns, feathered lobs, angled passes and volleys that died on impact.
The extraordinary level of accuracy and control was sure to dip and, in the second set it did. Only a little, but enough to let the world number one level the match.
But in the decisive third Siegemund was back to her best, mixing it up and sticking to her tactics.
The two exchanged the most marginal of upper hands to let the other nose ahead until finally, as the clock nudged towards three hours, Sabalenka sealed the win, pounding a powerful overhead home and shrieking for joy.
Anisimova weathers Pavlyuchenkova fightback 
Amanda Anisimova collapsed flat on her face in sheer relief after she survived an astonishing and unexpected fightback from Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to secure a 6-1, 7-6(9) victory and reach the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time.
With the American 13th seed leading 6-1 5-2, Pavlyuchenkova was left staring at defeat and wishing she could disappear through a Wimbledon trapdoor as she was bamboozled by a cocktail of blazing backhands, ferocious forehands and nifty footwork.
But just when it seemed that Anisimova had one foot in the last four, and Pavlyuchenkova would be left to lick some very painful wounds, the 34-year-old Russian's display suddenly caught fire and she won three games on the trot.
Pavlyuchenkova saved two match points in the process in the 10th game, including hitting a gutsy dropshot winner that completely caught Anisimova by surprise.
With the world number 50 suddenly believing she could turn the match around, emotional Anisimova looked like she was on the verge of breaking down, mouthing to her support group "one more point" as the Russian kept earning set points in the tiebreak.
Anisimova somehow saved all five set points against her before finally sealing victory when Pavlyuchenkova netted a service return on her opponent's fourth match point.
Anisimova's victory means she will next meet world number one Aryna Sabalenka for a place in the final.
A year after the American's attempt to qualify for the grasscourt major ended in failure, the 23-year-old was celebrating a remarkable turnaround of fortunes.
She was joined on Court One by her young nephew Jackson, who could be heard shouting out to his aunt during the contest.
"It was such a battle today. I was up in the second set and she started playing some unreal tennis," Anisimova told the crowd with Jackson by her side.
"I just kept fighting and that tiebreak was super stressful, but I'm just so happy I got it done. I'm happy to be in the semi-final for the first time, it's super special."
"It has been an extraordinary year for me with so many highs. I am enjoying every step of the way and, even in times like today, I keep reminding myself to enjoy the moment."
Fritz holds off Khachanov comeback
Fifth seed Taylor Fritz reached the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time on Tuesday after coming through a topsy-turvy four-setter against Karen Khachanov where the American seemed to be cruising, but then had to show all his fighting spirit.
Fritz eventually triumphed 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(4) but must have thought he was in for an easier passage as he ripped through the first two sets.
Russia's Khachanov, the 17th seed, also seeking a first Wimbledon semi, then won eight of the next nine games to take the third set and move a break up in the fourth.
Fritz, however, regrouped to immediately break back, regain control of his service, and triumph in the decisive tiebreak.
"I've never really had the match change like that so drastically where I felt so in control, playing great, serving great," Fritz said. "I didn't feel like my serve was in danger, I felt like I was putting a lot of pressure on his serve.
"I felt like I couldn't miss and then, out of nowhere, I just started making a ton of mistakes. So I really just had to fight to get that break back in the fourth and kind of just get the match back to neutral."
Fritz arrived at Wimbledon in hot grass form after title wins in Stuttgart and Eastbourne and got off to a flier on Tuesday, breaking in the second game and proceeding untroubled to take the set.
It got to 4-4 on serve in the second before Khachanov fell apart to be broken to love and Fritz served out to love for a 2-0 set lead.
In his opening 10 service games the American dropped only seven points and did not face a break point as he won an impressive 88% of points on first serve.
It all changed dramatically and unexpectedly in the third as Fritz’s game seemed to fall apart. From cruise control on serve for 90 minutes, he was broken twice, spraying his groundstrokes long and wide, as Khachanov finally found a way to get his serves back and added some venom to his own attack.
Fritz must have been wondering what happened and had time to reset as he received treatment for a foot blister.
It did not seem to change anything though as the American was again loose while Khachanov visibly grew in confidence, bossing the rallies and immediately breaking. He then rattled through a high-speed service game for a 2-0 fourth-set lead.
The Number One Court crowd, desperate to be entertained, were all in on the comeback, but Fritz managed to stem the bleeding by immediately breaking back and then rediscovering his serve dominance.
He still had to work hard, however, before coming through in the tiebreak to set up a meeting with either defending champion Carlos Alcaraz or home hope Cameron Norrie.
"It's an amazing feeling," he said. "Having played the quarter-finals here twice and lost in five twice I don't think I could have taken another one.
"I'm really happy with how I've really turned my career around over the last four years or so. I've put in a lot of work, and it's great to see the results."
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