Wimbledon: Carlos Alcaraz books his place in the fourth round

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Carlos Alcaraz was tested in the third round at Wimbledon as he required four sets to eliminate Nicolas Jarry. </p>

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World number one Alcaraz, touted as the only realistic challenger to Djokovic this fortnight, joined the Serbian in the fourth round after beating Jarry. </p>

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But it took the Spaniard four sets and almost four hours to get past a player who had not played at Wimbledon for four years and before this week had only won one match here. </p>

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Chilean Jarry is a player on an upward curve, however, having risen from 152 in the world at the start of the year to a career-high 28. </p>

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Nevertheless, it looked like being plain sailing when Alcaraz won his 17th consecutive set with a solitary break. </p>

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But in the second-set tie-break, Alcaraz dumped a forehand into the net to drop a set for the first time since he played Arthur Rinderknech in the first round at Queen's last month. </p>

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Alcaraz regained the initiative to take the third with a solitary break while Jarry hit the roof - literally - with one particularly wild swing. </p>

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Yet the indefatigable Jarry found a second wind and broke again at the start of the fourth, before an incorrect challenge from Alcaraz - who stopped playing only to discover Jarry's return had clipped the baseline - left him on his haunches in annoyance with himself. </p>

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But Alcaraz steadied himself to hit back for 3-4 and then showed why he is the player at the top of the tree with an unstoppable backhand return to break before serving out for a hard-earned 6-3 6-7 (6) 6-3 7-5 victory. </p>

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"It has been really tough, Nicolas is a really great player, he's playing really well," said Alcaraz. "I'm just really happy with the level I played to get through this tough round. </p>

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"I had to stay focused. I knew I would have my chances. I would say the key is to believe and stay focused all the time." </p>

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Third seed Daniil Medvedev also dropped a set but hit back to beat Hungary's Marton Fucsovics 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-4. </p>

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<p>The article <a href="https://www.planetsport.com/tennis/news/wimbledon-carlos-alcaraz-books-place-fourth-round">Wimbledon: Carlos Alcaraz books his place in the fourth round </a> appeared first on Planetsport.com.</p>