Carlos Alcaraz has reached his third consecutive Wimbledon final, battling past Taylor Fritz in four sets in the semifinals of the grass-court major on Friday afternoon, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (6).
With that victory, the two-time defending champion joins a very exclusive list—he’s just the fourth man this century to reach three consecutive finals at Wimbledon, after, of course, the Big 3 of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
He’s the 10th man in the entire Open Era to achieve the feat, and the first born in 2000 or later—or even 1990 or later—to do it.
In the first meeting between Top 5 players at Wimbledon this year, the No. 2-ranked Alcaraz broke serve in the very first game of the match and hung onto that break until he had the first set in his pocket, then looked like he was on the verge of a two-set lead as the two traded holds through the first 11 games of the second set.
But the No. 5-ranked Fritz cracked the match open right there, springing a love break out of nowhere to capture the second set, 7-5.
Alcaraz went right back to work in the third set, breaking early en route to a two-sets-to-one lead, and after 12 straight holds in the fourth set, the two headed to a tie-break.
There were several momentum swings in the breaker—first Alcaraz jumped out to a 4-1 lead, then Fritz won five points in a row to bring up double set point at 6-4, but Alcaraz struck back with four points in a row of his own to sneak out the four-set victory and his 20th consecutive win at Wimbledon.
“I can’t be prouder, to be honest,” Alcaraz told reporters afterwards. “Just really happy to make my third consecutive final here at Wimbledon playing such great tennis. Just really, really happy.
“Just can’t wait for Sunday.”