Norrie survives 46 aces to be pride of British tennis
Alcaraz had a rip-roaring fourth-round scrap with mercurial Russian Andrey Rublev before prevailing 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-4 6-4 on Centre Court to keep his bid for a Wimbledon hat-trick very much on track on Sunday.
But the Spaniard's trial from Rublev was as nothing compared to the bombardment faced by former semi-finalist Norrie, who had to survive a barrage of 46 aces and 103 winners from Chilean qualifier Nicolas Jarry under the roof of No.1 court before winning 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (7-9) 6-7 (5-7) 6-3.
The classic contest had the home fans roaring for Norrie in the same fashion that characterised his much-hyped run to the last-eight three years ago -- but there was a touch of feistiness about it too, with Jarry having complained to the umpire about the time Norrie was taking between first and second serves.
At the end, the pair had an animated discussion next to the umpire's chair, and afterwards Jarry noted: "He's very competitive, so he knows how to make the most of the important games, the important part of the match."
But Norrie shrugged: "I actually didn't even notice he was upset. I want to settle before I hit my second serve. I don't want to rush into it and hit a quick double."
Alcaraz remains the man to beat, and after dropping a set to the 14th seed Rublev, he uncorked his best tennis of the tournament to reel off his 22nd straight match win.
The 22-year-old joked to the crowd afterwards that he'd lost a game of golf to old hero Murray the day before, but it will take much more from Norrie to earn a tennis triumph over the man who's now won 18 successive matches at the Championships, with his last loss coming against Jannik Sinner in 2022.
"Andrey is one of the most powerful players we have on tour and is so aggressive with the ball. It's really difficult to face him, he forces you to the limit on each point," said Alcaraz, who's out to become just the fourth man to win back-to-back French Open and Wimbledon titles on more than one occasion.
"Really happy with the way I moved and played intelligent and smart tactically. A really good match all round."
Earlier, Taylor Fritz had booked his last-eight place when Jordan Thompson's battered body packed up on him after 41 minutes, leaving him to retire when 6-1 3-0 down.
The American fifth seed will next face Russian 17th seed Karen Khachanov, who beat Poland's Kamil Majchrzak 6-4 6-2 6-3.
Andy Murray may have gone and new star Jack Draper been kayoed but British tennis fans are counting on old favourite Cam Norrie to produce the goods after he booked them the delicious treat of a Wimbledon quarter-final against reigning champ Carlos Alcaraz.
Alcaraz had a rip-roaring fourth-round scrap with mercurial Russian Andrey Rublev before prevailing 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-4 6-4 on Centre Court to keep his bid for a Wimbledon hat-trick very much on track on Sunday.
But the Spaniard's trial from Rublev was as nothing compared to the bombardment faced by former semi-finalist Norrie, who had to survive a barrage of 46 aces and 103 winners from Chilean qualifier Nicolas Jarry under the roof of No.1 court before winning 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (7-9) 6-7 (5-7) 6-3.
The classic contest had the home fans roaring for Norrie in the same fashion that characterised his much-hyped run to the last-eight three years ago -- but there was a touch of feistiness about it too, with Jarry having complained to the umpire about the time Norrie was taking between first and second serves.
At the end, the pair had an animated discussion next to the umpire's chair, and afterwards Jarry noted: "He's very competitive, so he knows how to make the most of the important games, the important part of the match."
But Norrie shrugged: "I actually didn't even notice he was upset. I want to settle before I hit my second serve. I don't want to rush into it and hit a quick double."
Alcaraz remains the man to beat, and after dropping a set to the 14th seed Rublev, he uncorked his best tennis of the tournament to reel off his 22nd straight match win.
The 22-year-old joked to the crowd afterwards that he'd lost a game of golf to old hero Murray the day before, but it will take much more from Norrie to earn a tennis triumph over the man who's now won 18 successive matches at the Championships, with his last loss coming against Jannik Sinner in 2022.
"Andrey is one of the most powerful players we have on tour and is so aggressive with the ball. It's really difficult to face him, he forces you to the limit on each point," said Alcaraz, who's out to become just the fourth man to win back-to-back French Open and Wimbledon titles on more than one occasion.
"Really happy with the way I moved and played intelligent and smart tactically. A really good match all round."
Earlier, Taylor Fritz had booked his last-eight place when Jordan Thompson's battered body packed up on him after 41 minutes, leaving him to retire when 6-1 3-0 down.
The American fifth seed will next face Russian 17th seed Karen Khachanov, who beat Poland's Kamil Majchrzak 6-4 6-2 6-3.
Andy Murray may have gone and new star Jack Draper been kayoed but British tennis fans are counting on old favourite Cam Norrie to produce the goods after he booked them the delicious treat of a Wimbledon quarter-final against reigning champ Carlos Alcaraz.
Alcaraz had a rip-roaring fourth-round scrap with mercurial Russian Andrey Rublev before prevailing 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-4 6-4 on Centre Court to keep his bid for a Wimbledon hat-trick very much on track on Sunday.
But the Spaniard's trial from Rublev was as nothing compared to the bombardment faced by former semi-finalist Norrie, who had to survive a barrage of 46 aces and 103 winners from Chilean qualifier Nicolas Jarry under the roof of No.1 court before winning 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (7-9) 6-7 (5-7) 6-3.
The classic contest had the home fans roaring for Norrie in the same fashion that characterised his much-hyped run to the last-eight three years ago -- but there was a touch of feistiness about it too, with Jarry having complained to the umpire about the time Norrie was taking between first and second serves.
At the end, the pair had an animated discussion next to the umpire's chair, and afterwards Jarry noted: "He's very competitive, so he knows how to make the most of the important games, the important part of the match."
But Norrie shrugged: "I actually didn't even notice he was upset. I want to settle before I hit my second serve. I don't want to rush into it and hit a quick double."
Alcaraz remains the man to beat, and after dropping a set to the 14th seed Rublev, he uncorked his best tennis of the tournament to reel off his 22nd straight match win.
The 22-year-old joked to the crowd afterwards that he'd lost a game of golf to old hero Murray the day before, but it will take much more from Norrie to earn a tennis triumph over the man who's now won 18 successive matches at the Championships, with his last loss coming against Jannik Sinner in 2022.
"Andrey is one of the most powerful players we have on tour and is so aggressive with the ball. It's really difficult to face him, he forces you to the limit on each point," said Alcaraz, who's out to become just the fourth man to win back-to-back French Open and Wimbledon titles on more than one occasion.
"Really happy with the way I moved and played intelligent and smart tactically. A really good match all round."
Earlier, Taylor Fritz had booked his last-eight place when Jordan Thompson's battered body packed up on him after 41 minutes, leaving him to retire when 6-1 3-0 down.
The American fifth seed will next face Russian 17th seed Karen Khachanov, who beat Poland's Kamil Majchrzak 6-4 6-2 6-3.
Andy Murray may have gone and new star Jack Draper been kayoed but British tennis fans are counting on old favourite Cam Norrie to produce the goods after he booked them the delicious treat of a Wimbledon quarter-final against reigning champ Carlos Alcaraz.
Alcaraz had a rip-roaring fourth-round scrap with mercurial Russian Andrey Rublev before prevailing 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-4 6-4 on Centre Court to keep his bid for a Wimbledon hat-trick very much on track on Sunday.
But the Spaniard's trial from Rublev was as nothing compared to the bombardment faced by former semi-finalist Norrie, who had to survive a barrage of 46 aces and 103 winners from Chilean qualifier Nicolas Jarry under the roof of No.1 court before winning 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (7-9) 6-7 (5-7) 6-3.
The classic contest had the home fans roaring for Norrie in the same fashion that characterised his much-hyped run to the last-eight three years ago -- but there was a touch of feistiness about it too, with Jarry having complained to the umpire about the time Norrie was taking between first and second serves.
At the end, the pair had an animated discussion next to the umpire's chair, and afterwards Jarry noted: "He's very competitive, so he knows how to make the most of the important games, the important part of the match."
But Norrie shrugged: "I actually didn't even notice he was upset. I want to settle before I hit my second serve. I don't want to rush into it and hit a quick double."
Alcaraz remains the man to beat, and after dropping a set to the 14th seed Rublev, he uncorked his best tennis of the tournament to reel off his 22nd straight match win.
The 22-year-old joked to the crowd afterwards that he'd lost a game of golf to old hero Murray the day before, but it will take much more from Norrie to earn a tennis triumph over the man who's now won 18 successive matches at the Championships, with his last loss coming against Jannik Sinner in 2022.
"Andrey is one of the most powerful players we have on tour and is so aggressive with the ball. It's really difficult to face him, he forces you to the limit on each point," said Alcaraz, who's out to become just the fourth man to win back-to-back French Open and Wimbledon titles on more than one occasion.
"Really happy with the way I moved and played intelligent and smart tactically. A really good match all round."
Earlier, Taylor Fritz had booked his last-eight place when Jordan Thompson's battered body packed up on him after 41 minutes, leaving him to retire when 6-1 3-0 down.
The American fifth seed will next face Russian 17th seed Karen Khachanov, who beat Poland's Kamil Majchrzak 6-4 6-2 6-3.
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Sydney Morning Herald
an hour ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
De Minaur's gutsy performance fails to topple Djokovic in Wimbledon showdown
But Wimbledon's seven-time champion, as he has done so many times before – which Federer can ruefully vouch for – found a way back again. De Minaur staved off two break-back points in the seventh game to haul himself back to deuce, but a third opportunity proved too much to defend. They fought out another engrossing baseline exchange, only for Djokovic to initially hurt de Minaur with an extreme angle on a crosscourt forehand before blasting an inside-out forehand winner to get back on serve. It was a stampede from that moment. Djokovic held to love to level the set, then afforded de Minaur just one point as he broke the Australian warrior again to earn the chance to serve the match out. He did not drop another point in sealing his path to the final eight, finally putting a stop to de Minaur's stout resistance. Even in defeat, de Minaur was mostly magnificent. He glued himself to the baseline and played aggressively whenever he could in the many exchanges he found himself in with Djokovic – and the longer they went, the better he was. De Minaur won 36 of 52 points when rallies lasted nine shots or more, and many of them were absolutely spectacular, but Djokovic did his damage with first-strike tennis. Djokovic almost doubled his rival's winning rate when points lasted four shots or fewer, and the contest trended that way late. Loading De Minaur had to give up his well-earned Wimbledon quarter-final shot at Djokovic last year because of a freak hip injury he sustained on the third-last point of his fourth-round win over France's Arthur Fils. In between, he soared to a career-high ranking of No.6, spent months out either side of the US Open recovering from the hip setback, reached his maiden Australian Open quarter-final, then revealed after an early Roland-Garros defeat that he was battling burnout and mental fatigue. De Minaur entered this year's Wimbledon under the radar after losing his top-10 ranking and only grasscourt match this year. But the world No.11 eased his way into the tournament with a friendly draw – seeing off Roberto Carballes Baena and qualifiers Arthur Cazaux and August Holmgren – and was ready for Djokovic when the opportunity arose. Very few pundits gave de Minaur any chance of causing an upset, but all bets were off after a half an hour of madness. Battling wind and nerves, Djokovic inexplicably double-faulted four times and committed 11 unforced errors to drop serve twice and sink into a 4-1 hole. The lunacy continued when Djokovic crashed a forehand into the net to not only concede serve for a third time, but also the opening set 6-1. For context, the super Serb's sole break in the tournament before that came while serving for the match against his compatriot Miomir Kecmanovic in the previous round. Carlos Alcaraz (2023 final), Federer (2019 final), Sam Querrey (2016 third round) and Rafael Nadal (2011 final and 2007 semi-finals) are the only other players to ever win a set in such dominant fashion over Djokovic at Wimbledon. Loading De Minaur could not have dreamed of a better start. He deserved at least some credit for what transpired, but the opening set was an extremely rare case of Djokovic largely beating himself. What that set did was give de Minaur a foothold in the contest – and the match truly began from that stage. Even as Djokovic flexed his muscles to instantly break de Minaur in the second set, the Australian hit back immediately for one-all on his sixth chance after a brilliant return then pouncing to knock off a volley. But de Minaur consistently had to work overtime on serve, particularly as he struggled to find his radar on his first ball, and Djokovic kicked away once more for 3-1. The period that came next was arguably de Minaur's finest of the match as he continually dug deep, absorbed pressure and found ways to hang tough with the greatest baseliner the sport has ever seen. A dipping crosscourt forehand pass brought de Minaur back on level terms at three-all, but the Australian double-faulted to start his next service game and eventually conceded to love when Djokovic drop shot landed out of his grasp. Even then, as Djokovic served to level the match, he dumped consecutive volleys into the net to leave the door ajar. Two break points followed later, but it was the second that de Minaur will bemoan. He produced a sensational return, only to miss his next shot as he hunted a cheap point. Two points later, Djokovic was a set-all and urging the Serbian fans to crank the volume. Both players fended off break points to start the third set, and the standard soared as they went blow-for-blow to four-all. But a Djokovic uprising was never far away in the clutch moments. He restricted de Minaur to 15-40, then watched as another rush of blood from the Australian gifted him the break. 'Nole' chants broke out across the stadium when de Minaur dumped a forehand into the net to hand Djokovic set point, and he dinked a forehand into the opposite service box to go two-sets-to-one up. As much as de Minaur tried, he could not quite reel that advantage in.
The Age
an hour ago
- The Age
De Minaur's gutsy performance fails to topple Djokovic in Wimbledon showdown
But Wimbledon's seven-time champion, as he has done so many times before – which Federer can ruefully vouch for – found a way back again. De Minaur staved off two break-back points in the seventh game to haul himself back to deuce, but a third opportunity proved too much to defend. They fought out another engrossing baseline exchange, only for Djokovic to initially hurt de Minaur with an extreme angle on a crosscourt forehand before blasting an inside-out forehand winner to get back on serve. It was a stampede from that moment. Djokovic held to love to level the set, then afforded de Minaur just one point as he broke the Australian warrior again to earn the chance to serve the match out. He did not drop another point in sealing his path to the final eight, finally putting a stop to de Minaur's stout resistance. Even in defeat, de Minaur was mostly magnificent. He glued himself to the baseline and played aggressively whenever he could in the many exchanges he found himself in with Djokovic – and the longer they went, the better he was. De Minaur won 36 of 52 points when rallies lasted nine shots or more, and many of them were absolutely spectacular, but Djokovic did his damage with first-strike tennis. Djokovic almost doubled his rival's winning rate when points lasted four shots or fewer, and the contest trended that way late. Loading De Minaur had to give up his well-earned Wimbledon quarter-final shot at Djokovic last year because of a freak hip injury he sustained on the third-last point of his fourth-round win over France's Arthur Fils. In between, he soared to a career-high ranking of No.6, spent months out either side of the US Open recovering from the hip setback, reached his maiden Australian Open quarter-final, then revealed after an early Roland-Garros defeat that he was battling burnout and mental fatigue. De Minaur entered this year's Wimbledon under the radar after losing his top-10 ranking and only grasscourt match this year. But the world No.11 eased his way into the tournament with a friendly draw – seeing off Roberto Carballes Baena and qualifiers Arthur Cazaux and August Holmgren – and was ready for Djokovic when the opportunity arose. Very few pundits gave de Minaur any chance of causing an upset, but all bets were off after a half an hour of madness. Battling wind and nerves, Djokovic inexplicably double-faulted four times and committed 11 unforced errors to drop serve twice and sink into a 4-1 hole. The lunacy continued when Djokovic crashed a forehand into the net to not only concede serve for a third time, but also the opening set 6-1. For context, the super Serb's sole break in the tournament before that came while serving for the match against his compatriot Miomir Kecmanovic in the previous round. Carlos Alcaraz (2023 final), Federer (2019 final), Sam Querrey (2016 third round) and Rafael Nadal (2011 final and 2007 semi-finals) are the only other players to ever win a set in such dominant fashion over Djokovic at Wimbledon. Loading De Minaur could not have dreamed of a better start. He deserved at least some credit for what transpired, but the opening set was an extremely rare case of Djokovic largely beating himself. What that set did was give de Minaur a foothold in the contest – and the match truly began from that stage. Even as Djokovic flexed his muscles to instantly break de Minaur in the second set, the Australian hit back immediately for one-all on his sixth chance after a brilliant return then pouncing to knock off a volley. But de Minaur consistently had to work overtime on serve, particularly as he struggled to find his radar on his first ball, and Djokovic kicked away once more for 3-1. The period that came next was arguably de Minaur's finest of the match as he continually dug deep, absorbed pressure and found ways to hang tough with the greatest baseliner the sport has ever seen. A dipping crosscourt forehand pass brought de Minaur back on level terms at three-all, but the Australian double-faulted to start his next service game and eventually conceded to love when Djokovic drop shot landed out of his grasp. Even then, as Djokovic served to level the match, he dumped consecutive volleys into the net to leave the door ajar. Two break points followed later, but it was the second that de Minaur will bemoan. He produced a sensational return, only to miss his next shot as he hunted a cheap point. Two points later, Djokovic was a set-all and urging the Serbian fans to crank the volume. Both players fended off break points to start the third set, and the standard soared as they went blow-for-blow to four-all. But a Djokovic uprising was never far away in the clutch moments. He restricted de Minaur to 15-40, then watched as another rush of blood from the Australian gifted him the break. 'Nole' chants broke out across the stadium when de Minaur dumped a forehand into the net to hand Djokovic set point, and he dinked a forehand into the opposite service box to go two-sets-to-one up. As much as de Minaur tried, he could not quite reel that advantage in.
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
De Minaur defeated by Novac Djokovic at Wimbledon
Australian Alex de Minaur has failed to reach the quarter-finals of Wimbledon, after being knocked out of the contest by 24-time grand slam winner Novak Djokovic. Despite a strong start by the Aussie, his Serbian opponent staged a comeback that keeps his hope of a 25th grand slam win alive. Djokovic will now advance to the quarter-finals after his 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory over de Minaur. With Roger Federer watching from the Royal Box, the player whose record eight men's titles Djokovic is trying to equal, Djokovic's usually-surgical game misfired badly early on. "I can't remember when I've seen him play a worse set than this," John McEnroe, who won Wimbledon three times in the 1980s, said on the BBC telecast. "I mean, it's literally been years." The Aussie took an early lead, winning the first set, before Djokovic turned the tables and ended the match in the three subsequent sets. The hustling and bustling of Di Minaur's game continued to cause Djokovic headaches, but the sixth seed found his range to win the next two sets full of baseline rallies. Even then, Djokovic looked like getting dragged into a fifth set as Di Minaur jumped into a 4-1 lead in the fourth set. But the Serb slammed the door shut just in time, winning five games in a row to take his place in the last eight. Djokovic's bid for an eighth Wimbledon title and 25th Grand Slam singles trophy overall will continue against world number 22 Flavio Cobolli of Italy. AP/Reuters/AAP
