Spanish teenage sensation Carlos Alcaraz swept past Germany’s Oscar Otte into the fourth round of Wimbledon – and produced one of the tournament’s moments.
Alcaraz served early in the second set of a 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 demolition when Otte pulled him in front with a drop shot.
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The 19-year-old from Murcia was up to the task, sending a crosscourt shot back over the net. Otte awaited the return and chased them down before hitting one of the tournament’s shots to seemingly win the point.
But a linesman miscalled Alcaraz’s shot. It was overruled by the chair umpire, but according to the rules, the wrong call meant the point had to be replayed as it technically could have affected Alcaraz.
The Spaniard knew he had no chance of finding Otte’s shot and challenged the chair umpire to give his opponent the point.
“Good sportsmanship,” announced the chair umpire. “Mr. Alcaraz awards the point to Mr. Otte.”
The crowd erupted in applause and one BBC commentator said: “This is some serious sporting practice.”
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The fifth-seeded Alacaraz broke in the first game of the game to seize the early initiative and repeated the feat of winning the set.
In the second set he took a 5-0 lead before his momentum was briefly slowed down. Two more breaks in the third set sealed the deal for Alcaraz, who will meet tenth-placed Italian Jannik Sinner in the round of 16.
Alcaraz, who has won four titles this year, won an impressive 88 percent of points on his first serve and hit 37 winners overall.
Three-time defending champion Novak Djokovic defeated fellow Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic 6-0, 6-3, 6-4 in the third round to stay on course and tie Pete Sampras as a seven-time champion, one behind Roger Federer’s record in the men’s.
Saturday’s win was the 330th of Djokovic’s Grand Slam career. “So far, so good,” said the 35-year-old top seed. “I have high expectations of myself. You always want to raise the level and things are going well.”
Djokovic has now won 22 straight games on grass and is in the last 16 for the 14th time at Wimbledon. He has not lost a grass game since losing to Marin Cilic in the Queen’s final four years ago.
“I started very well, very strong with a lot of intensity and focus,” added Djokovic, whose only breakaway was interrupted when he served for the match at 5-2 in the decider.
In the round of 16 he meets the Dutch wild card Tim van Rijthoven. In his first Grand Slam main draw, the world number 104 defeated 22nd seeded Nikoloz Basilashvili from Georgia 6: 4, 6: 3, 6: 4.
25-year-old Van Rijthoven proved his skills on grass by winning a title in Holland last month and defeating world number one Daniil Medvedev in the final.
“Before the tournament started, it was a dream of mine to play against Djokovic,” said Van Rijthoven, only the seventh man since 2000 to reach the round of 16 in his Grand Slam debut.
“Having that chance and maybe even playing on Center Court or Court 1 is beautiful and magical.”
After needing four sets to get past Kwon Soon-woo in the first round, Djokovic has lost just 14 games since. If he beats Van Rijthoven, he could face Alcaraz in the quarterfinals
Ninth-placed Britain’s Cameron Norrie also qualified for the last 16 with an impressive 6-4, 6-1, 6-0 win over Steve Johnson.
– with AFP