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Carlos Alcaraz has won his youthful battle with Holger Rune to set up a Wimbledon semi-final with Daniil Medvedev, who ended Christopher Eubanks' adventures.
Spanish phenomenon Carlos Alcaraz has won the most youthful men's quarter-final in Wimbledon annals to maintain his extraordinary grass-court ascent.
Barely out of their teens, the clash between two 20-year-olds born just six days apart, Alcaraz and Denmark's Holger Rune, captivated the Centre Court crowd on Wednesday before the world No.1 prevailed with a 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 6-4 win.
Alcaraz will in the last-four meet Daniil Medvedev, who finally put paid to the wonderful Wimbledon adventures of Christopher Eubanks, but only after the unseeded break-out American star gave the Russian a scare under the roof on No.1 Court.
Alcaraz, who'd only played six grass-court matches before this season, has now won 10 on the trot on the surface, including the Queen's Championship triumph, as he again looked like the one player who could really challenge seven-time champion Novak Djokovic this year.
"Honestly, it's amazing for me, a dream since I started playing tennis, making good results at Wimbledon, such a beautiful tournament," beamed Alcaraz.
"I'm playing at a great level, I didn't expect to play such a great level on this surface so for me, it's crazy.
"At the beginning, I was really nervous playing a quarter-final and playing against Rune, someone the same age and playing at a great level. But once you get to a quarter-final there are no friends, you have to focus on yourself and I did great in that."
Rune, six days older than his friend, has known Alcaraz since they were 12. They were even doubles partners as 14-year-olds. Now at Wimbledon, they had graduated to become the first men under 21 to face each other in a quarter-final in the open era.
But at the end of the closest of first sets, a double fault from Rune paved the way for Alcaraz to take a grip that he was never to release.
Earlier, Medvedev also reached the first Wimbledon semi-final of his career, coming from two sets to one down to finally prevail 6-4 1-6 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-1.
The 2021 US Open champion stayed on course but only after making a sterling mid-match recovery following a period where the monster-serving 2.01m American completely blew him away.
"There was a moment I completely lost the game itself and he started playing really well," admitted Medvedev, who had looked a bit lost as Eubanks, crashing down 17 aces, kept risking everything with his huge blows.
But Medvedev doused the fire to win a crucial fourth set tie-break, after which it proved fairly plain sailing for him against an increasingly deflated-looking opponent to book his place in just under three hours.
Eubanks had knocked out British No.1 Cameron Norrie and fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in earlier rounds - not to mention Australia's last man standing Chris O'Connell - admitting that the surface he'd originally thought "stupid" was rapidly becoming his "best friend" but Medvedev was a step too far.
