Wimbledon: Alcaraz reaches Round 4 with hard-fought win, Norrie, Mertens advance

India Today

16 hours ago

Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz was made to work hard by Jan-Lennard Struff to make it to the fourth round of the men's singles event at Wimbledon 2025 on Friday, July 4. Cameron Norrie and Elise Mertens also secured their passage into the next round with wins over Mattia Belucci and Elina Svitolina. Alcaraz extended his career-best winning streak to 21 matches as he defeated Struff 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 as dug deep to absorb the pressure from the German. With this, the Spaniard made it 17 wins on the trot at Wimbledon as he aims to become the fifth man in the Open Era to make it a hat-trick of titles at the Grass major. Alcaraz was facing Struff for the fifth time in his career and the No.2 seed was aggressive from the get-go. Also Read: Taylor Fritz, Rublev march ahead; Madison Keys, Osaka crash outAlcaraz made life difficult for the German, making him run from one corner to the other and breaking him twice in the first set. However, there was a small break in rhythm for the defending champion in the second set as he won only 53 per cent of his first-serve points in the second set and struggled to challenge the serves from Struff. However, this turned out to be a momentary lapse as he found his mojo again in the third set before dispatching the German in the fourth one with a number of stunning drop volleys to end the match in two hours and 25 minutes and progress. Alcaraz will face Andrey Rublev in the fourth round. Norrie, Mertens advanceadvertisementCam Norrie secured his place in the fourth round with a straight sets win over Mattia Belucci on Friday. Norrie's 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-3 win meant that he was the only British player remaining in the men's draw after Jack Draper's exit on Thursday. It wasn't smooth sailing for Norrie as Belucci had the upper hand early on in the first set as he broke the British star in the opening game before a successful hold in the second one. However, Norrie bounced back and was able to secure the first set in an intense tie-break.
After that the British star made light work of the Italian and will face Nicolas Jarry in the next round. Elise Mertens progressed to the fourth round as she made light work of two-time Wimbledon semi-finalist Elina Svitolina. The Belgian went past Svitolina in straight sets with a scoreline of 6-1, 7-6 to book her place in Round 4. - Ends