Carlos Alcaraz beats Taylor Fritz to reach third consecutive Wimbledon final

New York Times

11-07-2025

CENTRE COURT, THE ALL ENGLAND CLUB — Carlos Alcaraz produced a masterful serving performance Friday to defeat Taylor Fritz 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(6) and advance to his third Wimbledon final in a row.
The two-time defending champion has prioritized improving his serve during this grass-court season, and for stretches of Friday's semifinal, he was back at the absurd levels he produced during the HSBC Championships at the Queen's Club in London last month. It was the kind of serving display that has had Alcaraz semi-jokingly referring to himself as a serve bot. In reality he's nothing of the kind. A true serve bot can do little else but serve, whereas Alcaraz remains the most complete player in men's tennis.
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Fritz did little wrong in the match, and other than a few dips he played close to his peak. He was still powerless to stop Alcaraz winning his 20th straight match at the All England Club, and his 23rd consecutive match anywhere. Until recently, his serve had been the only non-elite aspect of his game; his improvement behind it sends a message to the rest of the field that he still has more gears to find. In total, Alcaraz won 88 percent of his first serve points, including the first 20, and banged down 13 aces. If he posts similar numbers on Sunday, then even Novak Djokovic or Jannik Sinner could find themselves powerless, as the former found himself in the face of a barrage from Alcaraz's racket in last year's final.
The first set was a clinical masterclass, the kind that used to be Pete Sampras' trademark on this court. Alcaraz broke in the first game and then cruised through the rest of the set in little over half an hour, dropping just four points on serve and none on his 15 first-serve points. He hit six aces, with twelve winners compared to just three errors overall. It was clean, with a few spectacular moments, including an angled forehand that he flicked past Fritz in the penultimate game.
It was the fifth set in a row against Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner that Fritz had lost 6-4, in an accurate illustration of how he has been close to the very best, but not quite close enough.
But the American No. 5 seed played with renewed aggressiveness in the second set. After finally winning a point on the Alcaraz first serve at the 20th attempt, he built incrementally, getting to deuce for the first time when up 2-1, then finally forcing a break point at 4-3 before converting one to take the set 7-5. His backhand was particularly potent, looking even more reliable than Alcaraz's; one passing shot down the line off that wing sent a message that Alcaraz, who loves to move the contest to the front of the court, would have to think twice about it.
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Fritz found a groove on his serve in the second set, dropping just one of 14 points when he got the first delivery in, and successfully redlining on his second to keep Alcaraz at bay. Still, Alcaraz's game to drop the second set included a double fault and two poor errors, as he contributed to his own downfall as he tends to do.
Fritz continued serving well in the third set, but was quickly broken to love, underlining why playing Alcaraz is arguably the toughest challenge in the sport. Sinner is a lot more consistent, and Novak Djokovic still possesses a peerless ability to manage a match, but Alcaraz's superpower is the ability to become unplayable in the blink of an eye. He broke with a drop shot-lob combination, and then held for 3-1, winning three straight games to love.
By the time Alcaraz held for 4-2, he was yet to drop a point on serve in the set. The defending champion also spent a lot more of the set attacking than in the previous two, 39 percent of the time compared to Fritz's 28. In the first two sets, Fritz led that metric by 32 to 25 and then 33 to 32. When Alcaraz broke Fritz again to win the set 6-3, the physical and mental endurance required to stay with the two-time champion was on full display.
Fritz rediscovered his focus in the fourth after the almost inevitable dip that comes from having to play at their absolute limit. He fended off a break point down 3-2, but otherwise got back into a groove on serve — even if he was back to getting nowhere on his opponent's. A second-serve ace from Alcaraz to hold for 6-5 summed up the confidence he was feeling with it.
Fritz held to take the match into a tiebreak, but it was Alcaraz who struck firs. A lob set him up for a smash after a poor drop shot from Fritz that will be one of the American's few regrets from the match.
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The others arrived moments later, when Fritz fought back from 4-1 down to win five straight points and earn himself two chances to take the match into a decider. Both came and went, but Fritz could have done little more than he did. On the first, which was on his serve, he hit a 134 mph bullet onto the line, and still somehow lost the point as Alcaraz flipped from defense into attack and put away a volley.
On the second, he missed a forehand long and could have been more aggressive. Then, at 6-6, Fritz had another advantageous position, but Alcaraz put a pass on his shoelaces to earn his first match point. A backhand singed the baseline, Fritz could only send the ball long, and Alcaraz roared into another final, where Sinner and Djokovic — the other two players who can touch his top level — awaits.