Alcaraz survives thrilling five-setter against inspired Tiafoe

LONDON :Defending Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz came dangerously close to relinquishing his crown against inspired American Frances Tiafoe but lived to fight another day with a 5-7 6-2 4-6 7-6(2) 6-2 victory on Centre Court on Friday.

Alcaraz came under intense pressure throughout a spellbinding third-round contest played in a superb spirit and which had the crowd fully involved.

With his back to the wall when trailing by two sets to one and being outplayed by the swashbuckling Tiafoe, the Spanish third seed suddenly found an extra gear to seize control.

Tiafoe had looked on the verge of avenging the heart-breaking five-set defeat he suffered against Alcaraz in the semi-finals of the 2022 U.S. Open deep in the fourth set.

But the 21-year-old Alcaraz responded in devastating fashion to blaze through the tiebreak and the fifth set was one-way traffic as Tiafoe's energy levels finally ebbed away.

Alcaraz clinched victory with a drop shot and the two players embraced warmly at the net as the crowd erupted.

His victory means he has now reached at least the fourth round in 10 of his first 14 Grand Slam tournaments and he will face either Frenchman Ugo Humbert or unseeded American Brandon Nakashima in the next round.

"It's a big challenge playing Frances and once again he showed he deserves to be fighting for big things," Alcaraz, who went on to win his first Grand Slam title having beaten Tiafoe at Flushing Meadows two years ago, said on court.

"It was really difficult to adapt my game and to find solutions to put him in trouble today. I had difficult moments in the fourth set but was thinking just fight one more ball."

Forty nine years ago to the day Arthur Ashe had become the first Black man to win Wimbledon.

The way Tiafoe, born