Top seed Carlos Alcaraz annihilated the third seed Daniil Medvedev on Friday to advance to his first final at Wimbledon.
The 20-year-old Spaniard won 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 and will take on the defending champion Novak Djokovic who dispatched the eighth seed Jannik Sinner 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 in the first semi-final to move into a ninth Wimbledon final.
In his semi-final, Alcaraz reduced the former world number one to the role of gangly fall guy during nearly 90 minutes of smart grass court tennis.
He pulled out slick serve volley combinations and pummelled Medvedev's backhand with searing slices which brought the errors.
But just as he looked in the rhythm for a waltz, there was a misstep when serving for a 4-1 lead in the third set. Medvedev broke him and it was 3-2.
Alcaraz immediately had two chances to win Medvedev's serve and re-establish a 4-2 advantage.
But he went crowd pleasing.
On one break point he tried a drop shot. That did not work. And on the second he wound up a big forehand which flew long. Two more chances were also squandered.
A fifth break point loomed after a Medvedev forehand volley dipped into the net and Alcaraz finally converted to move 4-2 ahead.
Stumble
But Alcaraz stumbled again. Medvedev, serving with new balls, appeared to have regathered a semblance of his stature. His groundstrokes began to push Alcaraz back and he ventured to the net to conclude points.
But he failed to level at 4-4 and instead gave Alcaraz the opportunity to serve for the match at 5-3 up.
A big serve brought up match point and a stupendous rally of whomping forehands and Alcaraz chasing down a volley to unleash a winner produced the grandstand finale for the crowd.
"It is a dream for me to play a final at Wimbledon," beamed Alcaraz. "I'm going to enjoy it and it's time to keep dreaming."
Djokovic, who overwhelmed him in the French Open semi-final last month, will be less flaky than Medvedev as he pushes for a record-equalling eighth title and a record-extending 24th Grand Slam singles trophy.
"Everybody knows the legend that Novak is," said Alcaraz. "It is going to be really difficult but I will fight. I will believe that I can beat him."
