WimbledonTwo-time defending champion will play Norrie next at SW19
July 06, 2025
Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images
Carlos Alcaraz during his victory against Andrey Rublev on Sunday at Wimbledon. By Andy West
Carlos Alcaraz was penned in by an opening Andrey Rublev surge on Sunday evening at Wimbledon. Yet the two-time defending champion quickly unleashed his best tennis of the 2025 grass major so far to book his quarter-final spot in London.
The No. 2 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, Alcaraz rallied to a 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory on Centre Court for his 22nd consecutive tour-level win. In the first all-Top 20 clash of the men’s singles draw so far, the 22-year-old Spaniard raised his level after dropping the opening set and produced some trademark moments of crowd-pleasing brilliance en route to a two-hour, 43-minute fourth-round win.
“Andrey is one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful player that we have on Tour,” said Alcaraz, who will play Cameron Norrie in the quarter-finals, in his on-court interview. “Without a doubt, with how aggressive he is to the ball, with that forehand, with those shots, it’s really difficult. To face him, you feel like he’s pushing you to the limit with every ball, [making you] run side to side.
“That makes it really difficult to face him, but I’m just really happy with the way I moved today. I think I played intelligently and smart today against him. Tactically it was a really good match, which I am really proud about.”
Defending champ does it again 🔥
Alcaraz takes the win over Rublev in a nail-biting match 🍿#wimbledon pic.twitter.com/prscvdWYnO
— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 6, 2025
The World No. 14 Rublev showed admirable resistance to his opponent’s powers, but was unable to prevent Alcaraz from clinching the only break in each of the second, third and fourth sets. The encounter was perhaps best defined by the winner the Spaniard produced to break Rublev’s serve at 3-3, 30/40 in the third set. Despite his opponent playing a near-perfect point, Alcaraz scrambled out wide to meet a flat Rublev backhand with a stunning forehand pass on the run.
“I always say it’s just about belief in yourself. It doesn’t matter that you are one set to love down,” said Alcaraz, who let slip a 5/3 lead in the first-set tie-break before kick-starting his comeback by breaking decisively in the eighth game of the second set. “Tennis is a sport where it can change in just one point. One point can change the match completely and turn everything around, so you just have to stay there all the time. Be strong mentally.
“I knew that I was going to play better. In the first set it was a few points, so I just thought, ‘Keep it going, try to make the most of the chances he brings to me’. The break that I did in the second set turned everything around, and I just started to feel more comfortable and calmer, and I was thinking more clearly.”
Despite entering Wimbledon off the back of a title run at the Queen’s Club, Alcaraz struggled to hit his stride in his opening three rounds at the All England Club. The five-time Grand Slam titlist, who is aiming to join Bjorn Borg as the only men in the Open Era to complete the Roland Garros-Wimbledon double in consecutive years, escaped Fabio Fognini in five sets in the first round, while he also lost a set to Jan-Lennard Struff in the third round.
Although he dropped another set against Rublev, Alcaraz’s Sunday-evening display will serve as a statement to the rest of the field. He served precisely throughout and ended the contest having won 82 per cent (64/78) of points behind his first delivery, while he outhit the powerful Rublev by 41 winners to 29.
By defeating Rublev in the pair’s first meeting at a major, Alcaraz improved to 3-1 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series. Alcaraz is now on an eight-match winning streak against Top 20 players and is 23-9 overall against Top 20 players at Grand Slam events.
With his victory, Alcaraz became just the second active male player to reach the quarter-finals at all four majors on multiple occasions, after Marin Cilic, Novak Djokovic, Kei Nishikori, Jannik Sinner and Stan Wawrinka. Standing between the Spaniard and a third consecutive last-four appearance at Wimbledon will be home favourite Norrie, who earlier edged Nicolas Jarry 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-7(7), 6-7(5), 6-3 in a four-and-a-half-hour epic.