British hopes for singles success at Wimbledon has ended after Cameron Norrie lost in the quarter-finals to defending champion Carlos Alcaraz.
The British number three, 29, was attempting to become just the third home player in the open era to defeat a men’s title holder after Roger Taylor and Tim Henman but succumbed to a straight sets defeat (6-2, 6-3, 6-3) in just an hour and 39 minutes.
It follows the defeat of British women’s number one Emma Raducanu to world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the third round on Friday, which also ended the chances of British success in the women’s singles.
Raducanu had made a strong start to her Wimbledon campaign, defeating former champion Marketa Vondrousova to reach the third round.
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Norrie, who had won two of his last three meetings with Alcaraz, has performed well at Wimbledon despite almost dropping out of the top 100 earlier this season, three years after reaching the semi-finals.
His world ranking will now climb from 61 to just outside the top 40.
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He booked his place in the quarter-finals after toppling Chile’s Nicolas Jarry in a five-set epic on Sunday.
Norrie’s progress meant he finally had to move from his favoured Court One on to Centre Court, where he had lost four of his five previous matches, including against Alexander Zverev last year and Novak Djokovic in the last four in 2022.
Meanwhile, Alcaraz will next take on Taylor Fritz in the last four on Friday as he continues his attempt to make it three titles in a row at the All England Club.
Alcaraz: Norrie is ‘really difficult’
After winning a 23rd successive match, the five-time grand slam winner said: “I am really happy. To be able to play another semi-final here at Wimbledon is really special.
“I am really happy with the level I played today against a really difficult player like Cam. He is an amazing guy. No one works harder than him.”
Alcaraz also revealed he will be heading back to the golf course on his days off, saying: “For sure I’m going to play some golf, just to switch off my mind a little bit. When the things that I’m doing are working, I have to keep doing it.”
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British hopes in the men’s draw also rested on the shoulders of Jack Draper, but he crashed out in the second round to Marin Cilic. Fellow Brit Dan Evans was knocked out in the same round by seven-time champion Novak Djokovic, who will play Italian Flavio Cobolli on Wednesday in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, in the women’s singles, British player Sonay Kartal’s impressive run was ended with a fourth round loss to Russian veteran Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
But there is still the prospect of British success in men’s doubles and mixed doubles, along with strong representation in the men’s and women’s wheelchair tennis.
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