The Japan Times - Alcaraz, Sabalenka take contrasting routes into Wimbledon semis

Alcaraz needed just 99 minutes to win 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 against the overwhelmed British world number 61, setting up a last-four clash with American fifth seed Taylor Fritz.

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 Jannik Sinner in the fourth round in 2022.

"To be able to play another semi-final here at Wimbledon is super special," Alcaraz said.

"It's going to be great. I'm really happy with the way I played against a really difficult player,"

Wimbledon's controversial line technology system malfunctioned again as Fritz beat Russian 17th seed Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7/4) to reach his first Wimbledon semi-final.

Swedish umpire Louise Azemar Engzell had to stop a point in the opening game of the fourth set on Court One when "fault" was incorrectly called after a Fritz forehand landed well inside the baseline.

The call of "fault", rather than "out", and positioning of the ball suggested the system was still tracking Fritz's serve as opposed to a rally and the point had to be replayed.

Tournament organisers were forced to apologise and make a change to the system to avoid further issues after a major error in Sonay Kartal's fourth-round defeat to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the women's draw.

- 'I need some time to cool down' -

A fully automated system has replaced human line judges at Wimbledon for the first time this year, in line with the Australian Open and the US Open.

Tournament organisers claimed the system had failed to reset because the ball from Fritz's first serve was still being retrieved when he started lining up his second.

"The player's service motion began while the BBG (ball boy or girl) was still crossing the net and therefore the system didn't recognise the start of the point," an All England Club statement said.

"As such the chair umpire instructed the point be replayed."

Sabalenka fought back from the brink of a shock exit to reach the semi-finals with a gutsy 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 win against Germany's Laura Siegemund.

She twice trailed by a break in the final set on Centre Court and was two games away from crashing out before staging a dramatic revival to win in two hours and 54 minutes of unrelenting tension.

The 27-year-old top seed is through to the Wimbledon semi-finals for the third time after losing at that stage in 2021 and 2023.

Beaten in the Australian and French Open finals this year after winning the US Open in 2024, Sabalenka remains on course to reach a fourth successive Grand Slam title match.

Sabalenka remains the only one of the top six women's seeds still standing at the tournament after two weeks of shocks.

"That was a real test. I need some time to cool down and recover after this," Sabalenka said.

In the semi-finals, the Belarusian will face American 13th seed Amanda Anisimova, who defeated Russian world number 50 Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 7-6 (11/9).

Anisimova took an eight-month break from tennis in 2023 after suffering with depression brought on by the scrutiny and expectations that came from her run to the French Open semi-finals aged just 17.

"It's been an extraordinary year for me. So many highs. It's been such a ride," she said.

K.Hashimoto--JT