Alcaraz, Sinner make Wimbledon quarters, Gauff loses

LONDON (AP):

THERE CARLOS Alcaraz was, down on his backside at a baseline below the Royal Box, briefly taking a seat in the grass after doing the splits when he slipped while running to hit a forehand during his fourth-round match yesterday.

So now what? Give up on the point and get ready for the next? Ha. Not this kid. Alcaraz popped to his feet, sprinted to his left to get to a backhand wide of the doubles alley, then raced forward to reach a short shot and, eventually, watched his opponent send a volley long.

That allowed Alcaraz to claim the second set of what would become a 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 victory against number-16 seed Ugo Humbert at Centre Court. The defending champion at the All England Club celebrated the moment by raising his right index finger in a “number-one” gesture and shouting “Vamos!” as thousands of spectators rose to salute him.

Asked during his on-court interview how he would describe the remarkable sequence against Humbert, Alcaraz offered a huge smile and responded: “Unbelievable, I guess. I just try to fight every point, every ball. It doesn’t matter what part of the court.”

There is a possible rematch against the number-one-ranked Jannik Sinner looming in the semi-finals. Each just needs to win once more to get there.

In Tuesday’s quarterfinals, Alcaraz will face number-12 Tommy Paul, and Sinner goes up against 2021 US Open champion Daniil Medvedev.

Sinner was bounced in last year’s Wimbledon semi-finals by Novak Djokovic, who then lost to Alcaraz in a five-set final.

Sinner earned his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January, and he advanced yesterday with a 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (9) win against number-14 Ben Shelton, breaking the big-serving left-hander four times — the same total number of breaks others had managed against the 21-year-old American through 15 sets entering the day.

US Open runner-up in 2017, Madison Keys, hurt her leg, took a medical timeout and then briefly tried to continue. But she was wiping away tears as she walked to the net when she decided she needed to quit at five-all in the third set against Jasmine Paolini, who was a finalist at this year’s French Open.

Paolini next meets number-19 Emma Navarro, who defeated reigning US Open champion Coco Gauff, 6-4, 6-3, in the day’s last match. The second-seeded Gauff’s exit comes the day after number-one Iga Swiatek lost and leaves just two of the top 10 seeded women in the bracket: number-four Elena Rybakina, the 2022 champion, and number-seven Paolini.