Wimbledon 2023 – 3rd round: Carlos Alcaraz drops a set but defeats Nicolas Jarry

Carlos Alcaraz made it to the round of 16 of this Wimbledon 2023, but it was not a long calm river. Opposed to Nicolas Jarry, the world number one battled for 3:55 on center court after four emotionally intense sets (6-3, 6-7, 6-3, 7-5). Not necessarily expected as a serious client in the face of the ardor of Alcaraz, Jarry cast doubt on the recent winner of the Queen’s tournament and confirmed his soaring rise in the ATP rankings. In the next round, Alcaraz will challenge the winner of the duel between Alexander Zverev and Mattéo Berrettini. There too, the fight promises to be tough.

There was reason to think that Nicolas Jarry was already happy to climb to the third round of the prestigious London Grand Slam tournament. At 27, the native of Santiago de Chile had just achieved his best performance in four participations. But facing the world number one and on the center court, Jarry wanted to prolong the pleasure and absolutely did not serve as a stooge for Alcaraz. Concentrated from the start of the game, the 23rd at ATP had no real reference on the grass. Labeled as a clay court specialist, Jarry had also given Alcaraz a hard time during their only confrontation on the professional circuit, last February on the ocher of Rio (6-7; 7-5, 6 -0).

Alcaraz abused

All this, Alcaraz had taken into account but the Murcian probably did not expect such a tough showdown in practice. During the first set, the defending champion at the US Open had to wait until the eighth game to break his opponent and pocket the set on his serve in 45 minutes (6-3). Jarry could have blamed the blow, but it was finally Alcaraz who was surprised at the start of the second round. Led 3-0, Carlitos waited to unbreak and equalize at 4-4. Again, Jarry was mentally strong to maintain a big first-ball percentage (74% in the set against 63% for Alcaraz) and equalize at one set everywhere after a tie-break won 8 points to 6 ( 7-6).

Jostled, Alcaraz responded brilliantly in the third round. Combative, Jarry saved two break points to pick up at 1-1 but finally gave up his next service game to find himself trailing 4-1. Imperturbable on his serve, the Spaniard won the set with mastery (6-3). Opposite, the South American colossus still had resources to sow doubt in the mind of the number one seed. Thanks to a break at the start of the fourth set, Jarry found himself in front at 3-0, then 4-1. But as in the second set, Carlitos came back to 4-4. And unlike the second set, the semi-finalist at Roland-Garros broke away at 6-5, serve to follow. Courageous, Jarry got a break point but Alcaraz found his first ball to win (7-5). Like last year, Alcaraz qualified for the round of 16 and repeated its best performance at Wimbledon. Can he do better?