Carlos Alcaraz continues Wimbledon title defence with hard-fought semi-final win over Daniil Medvedev

It was a repeat of last year’s semi-final, which the Spaniard had won easily, but this time Medvedev proved more of an obstacle before Alcaraz clinched a 6-7 (1) 6-3 6-4 6-4 victory.

The 21-year-old will contest a fourth major final and a second in a row after his first title at the French Open last month, and it could be a repeat of last year’s showpiece, when Alcaraz spectacularly defeated Novak Djokovic in five sets.

Medvedev can be proud of his efforts, which included a quarter-final victory over an admittedly ailing Jannik Sinner, but the Russian seemed fortunate not to be defaulted during the opening set.

After umpire Eva Asderaki decided Medvedev had not got to an Alcaraz drop shot before it bounced twice, resulting in a break of serve to the Spaniard, Medvedev reacted with what appeared to be a foul-mouthed rant at the official.

Asderaki climbed down from her chair and talked to the referee and supervisor – an unusual occurrence – before eventually giving Medvedev just a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Asked on Tuesday what made Alcaraz such a difficult opponent, Medvedev, who did manage to beat the Spaniard at the same stage of the US Open last summer, cited his ability to strike winners from any part of the court.

There were several examples of that in the first game, with Medvedev only just holding on to his serve, but Alcaraz has had dips along with the peaks this Wimbledon, and that was how the opening set played out.

Medvedev, known for hanging around among the line judges, had changed his tactics, not only trying to keep a more aggressive position but coming to the net with surprising regularity.

While his forays were not always successful, they put question marks in the mind of Alcaraz, who lacked discipline on his groundstrokes, too often making errors on regulation shots.

A slew of them presented Medvedev with a break in the fourth game. Alcaraz immediately hit back only to drop serve again, this time his favoured drop shot letting him down.

It did the business with Medvedev serving for the set at 5-3, leading to the Russian’s indiscretion, for which he could be heavily fined.

But it was the Russian who dominated the tie-break, winning the opening five points and finishing it off with a 121 miles per hour second serve.

The spark for Alcaraz came in the third game of the second set, when he won a terrific all-court rally to hold serve, putting his finger to his ear to encourage the crowd to cheer louder.

And it was the third seed roaring towards his box, which included Real Madrid star Luka Modric, moments later when a forehand pass whipped cross-court gave him the break for 3-1.

Medvedev’s net adventures were now veering towards reckless and they became less frequent, the Russian concentrating on trying to resist the barrage of pressure coming from the other end.

Alcaraz had found his magician mode, drawing gasps from the crowd one moment with the power of his groundstrokes before feathering drop shots to leave Medvedev scrambling.

He forged ahead early in the third set and, when he disagreed with Asderaki’s call of ‘not up’, he merely wagged his finger in her direction.

There were still bizarrely lackadaisical moments from Alcaraz, like the overhead miss late in the set that left him comically holding his head in his hands, or the careless game he played to allow Medvedev to break back at the beginning of the fourth set.

But those were far outnumbered by the sublime, and he wrapped up victory after two hours and 55 minutes when a final Medvedev forehand flew wide.