The China Mail - Ruthless Alcaraz ends Tarvet's Wimbledon fairytale

After a record-breaking number of seeds crashed out at the All England Club in the first round, Alcaraz avoided a seismic shock on Centre Court.

The world number two had battled to a five-set win over 38-year-old Italian Fabio Fognini in a first-round clash lasting over four hours on Monday.

He once again looked below his best, taking two hours and 17 minutes to subdue world number 733 Tarvet, who produced flashes of his emerging talent to delight the partisan crowd.

Alcaraz has won his past 20 matches since losing to Holger Rune in the Barcelona final in April, a blistering streak that has brought him titles at the Rome Masters, the French Open and Queen's Club.

The 22-year-old Spaniard, who fought back from two sets down to beat Jannik Sinner on clay in an epic final at Roland Garros last month, has won 31 of his 34 Tour-level matches on grass.

His last defeat at Wimbledon came against Sinner in the fourth round in 2022.

Having vanquished Novak Djokovic in the past two Wimbledon finals, Alcaraz is looking to join an elite group of Wimbledon icons.

He hopes to become the fifth man in the Open Era to win at least three consecutive Wimbledon titles after seven-time champion Djokovic, Bjorn Borg, Roger Federer and Pete Sampras.

- Alcaraz spoils the party -

In stark contrast to Alcaraz's fame and fortune, the unheralded Tarvet is just starting his tennis career and cannot even collect all of his Wimbledon prize money.

As a student of the University of San Diego, the 21-year-old has to maintain amateur status and will have to give up most of his earnings.

While Alcaraz is a five-time Grand Slam champion Tarvet was playing just his second major main draw match after coming through three qualifiers and beating Leandro Riedi in the opening round.

More accustomed to playing in front of a few hundred spectators on the US college circuit, Tarvet defied the vast rankings gap to Alcaraz and had 15,000 Centre Court fans cheering his every move.

He never looked out of his depth, amassing eight break points in the first set as he pushed Alcaraz into a series of awkward errors.

Each time Alcaraz seemed on the verge of cracking, the Spaniard produced a perfectly-timed winner to scramble out of trouble.

Even with the first set in the bag, Alcaraz wasn't completely comfortable.

Tarvet, hitting with power and poise, broke for the first time in the second game of the second set, waggling his finger in delight as the crowd roared their approval.

Alcaraz quickly spoiled the party by breaking in the next game and again at 4-4 before serving out the set.

When Alcaraz broke early in the third set, Tarvet gamely responded with a break of his own, only for the Spaniard to deliver the knockout blow with another break to secure his victory.

Z.Huang--ThChM