Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz swept into the Wimbledon third round on Wednesday with a convincing 7-6 (7/5), 6-2, 6-2 win over Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic.
The third seed struggled to impose himself at the start of the match under the roof on Centre Court but lost just four more games after taking the first set on a tie-break.
Vukic, who beat Alcaraz in French Open qualifying when the Spaniard was 17, served for the first set at 6-5 but the 69th-ranked player stumbled and missed his chance to edge ahead.
Alcaraz, who beat Novak Djokovic in last year’s Wimbledon final, broke twice in set two and twice more in the third set to wrap up the match in one hour 48 minutes.
He is bidding to become just the sixth man after Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic to win the French Open and Wimbledon titles back to back.
Alcaraz next faces Frances Tiafoe, the American player he defeated in five sets in the semi-finals of the 2022 US Open on his way to his first Grand Slam triumph.
With AFP
