The Japan Times - Imperious Alcaraz routs Norrie to reach Wimbledon semis

Alcaraz needed just 99 minutes to thrash Norrie 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 in his most commanding performance in this year's tournament.

The Spanish second seed dropped four sets in a series of scrappy displays during his run to the last eight.

But Alcaraz was back to his imperious best in the quarter-finals, blasting 39 winners to set up a last four clash with American fifth seed Taylor Fritz.

With world number one Jannik Sinner struggling with an elbow injury after trailing by two sets in the fourth round before his opponent Grigor Dimitrov was forced to retire, Alcaraz looks like the title favourite heading into the closing stages of the tournament.

Alcaraz is on a career-best 23 match winning run since losing to Holger Rune in the Barcelona final in April -- a superb streak which has brought him titles at the French Open, the Rome Masters and Monte Carlo.

The Spaniard, who vanquished Novak Djokovic in the last two Wimbledon finals, has won 34 of his 37 Tour-level matches on grass, while his last defeat at the All England Club came against Sinner in the fourth round in 2022.

Alcaraz is only the second Spanish man to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals on at least three occasions after Rafael Nadal, who made eight appearances in the last four.

The five-time Grand Slam champion is aiming to become the fifth man to win Wimbledon in three consecutive years in the Open era afer Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and Djokovic.

Alcaraz, who will be making his eighth Grand Slam semi-final appearance, is also bidding to become the second-youngest player in the Open era, after Borg, to win six major men's singles titles.

Alcaraz wasted little time asserting his dominance with breaks in the third and fifth games of a one-sided opening set.

The 22-year-old was equally commanding in the second set as the world number 61 struggled to stem the tide.

Alcaraz was in total control and the third set followed the same pattern, with the decisive break coming in the sixth game as he sealed his victory in ruthless fashion.

M.Saito--JT