Nerveless Alcaraz

Alcaraz is one win away from becoming the fifth man in the Open era to clinch three consecutive Wimbledon titles after Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and Djokovic.

He can also become the second-youngest player in the Open era to win six men’s Grand Slam titles after Borg reached that mark at Wimbledon in 1978 aged 22.

Fritz fell short in his bid to reach a second Grand Slam final.

The 27-year-old, a US Open runner-up last year, made a gutsy effort, but Alcaraz had won both their previous meetings and he wasted no time seizing control again.

Although grass-court specialist Fritz had slammed 95 aces on route to his first Wimbledon semi-final, Alcaraz’s returning prowess neutralised that weapon to secure a break in the first game of the match.

Alcaraz needed his eye checked midway through the set, but there was no loss of focus from the Spaniard as he held serve to take the opener.

Having dropped just four of 24 points on his serve in the first set, the Spaniard found himself under fire in the second.

Fritz pounced on a rare sloppy game from Alcaraz to take the set when the Spaniard produced an ill-timed double-fault and two costly unforced errors.

The nerveless Alcaraz was unfazed by that threat and quickly regained the momentum, running Fritz ragged with a deft drop-shot followed by a perfect lob to break in the third game of the third set.

With Alcaraz’s serve virtually flawless, he added another break for good measure to secure a two sets to one lead.

In a dramatic fourth set tie-break, Fritz went from 4-1 down to 6-4 up, only for Alcaraz to save both set points.

Alcaraz scented victory and one last flurry of piercing ground-strokes secured his latest final berth.