LONDON, July 12 (Reuters) - It was billed as the battle of the 20-year-olds but Carlos Alcaraz pulled rank on his childhood buddy Holger Rune as he doused the Dane's fireworks to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time with a 7-6(3) 6-4 6-4 victory on Wednesday.
The two tyros who were born six days apart were contesting a men's Wimbledon quarter-final that for the first time in the professional era featured two players aged under 21.
After Alcaraz missed out on converting his first three match points, including producing a double fault on one of them, he sealed a semi-final showdown with Russian third seed Daniil Medvedev when Rune slapped a service return long.
After sharing a warm embrace at the net, the Spaniard leaned back and let out a might roar into the skies - showing just how much this win meant to him.
Reporting by Pritha Sarkar, editing by Ken FerrisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Persons:
Carlos Alcaraz, Holger Rune, Alcaraz, Rune, Queen Camilla, Rune's, Daniil Medvedev, Pritha Sarkar, Ken Ferris
Organizations:
Wimbledon, England, triumphing, U.S, Thomson
Locations:
Danish, Russian