Alcaraz moves on; Gauff loses in upset By Howard Fendrich

LONDON — There Carlos Alcaraz was, down on his backside at a baseline below the Royal Box, briefly taking a seat in the grass after doing a split when he slipped while running to hit a forehand during his fourth-round match Sunday.

So now what? Give up on the point and get ready for the next? Ha. Alcaraz popped to his feet, sprinted to his left to get to a backhand wide of the doubles alley, then raced forward to reach a short shot and, eventually, watched his opponent send a volley long.

That allowed Alcaraz to claim the second set of what would become a 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 victory against No. 16 seed Ugo Humbert at Centre Court. The defending champion at the All England Club celebrated the moment by raising his right index finger in a “No. 1″ gesture and shouting “Vamos!” as thousands of spectators rose to salute him.

On the women’s side No. 19 Emma Navarro defeated reigning U.S. Open champion and former Atlanta resident Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-3 in the day’s last match. Gauff, who was seeded second, lost a day after top-seeded Iga Swiatek was upset. Just two of the top-10 seeded women remain alive: No. 4 Elena Rybakina, the 2022 champion, and No. 7 Paolini.

Meanwhile, Alcaraz, 21, is making a habit of figuring out ways to win points many other players would concede and, in the bigger picture, breaking new ground time after time. He was the first teenager to reach No. 1 in the ATP rankings, and last month’s French Open championship made him the youngest man to win Grand Slam titles on three surfaces: hard, grass and clay courts.

Asked during his on-court interview how he’d describe the remarkable sequence against Humbert, Alcaraz offered a huge smile and responded, “Unbelievable, I guess. I just try to fight every point, every ball. It doesn’t matter what part of the court.”

Unbelievable, maybe, but certainly not unprecedented. For him, at least. Later, at his news conference, he recalled having made that same sort of recovery from a fall during his thrill-a-minute marathon against rival Jannik Sinner at the 2022 U.S. Open, a tournament Alcaraz went on to win. “I think,” Alcaraz said, “that I can reach every ball.”

There is a possible rematch against top-ranked Sinner looming in the semifinals. Each just needs to win once more to get there. In Tuesday’s quarterfinals, Alcaraz will face No. 12 Tommy Paul, and Sinner goes against 2021 U.S. Open champion Daniil Medvedev.

Sinner, who won the Australian Open in January, advanced Sunday with a 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (9) win against No. 14 Ben Shelton, breaking the big-serving lefty four times — the same total number of breaks others had managed against Shelton, an Atlanta native, through 15 sets entering the day.

Paul reached his first quarterfinal at Wimbledon by using a 41-14 edge in winners to extend his unbeaten run to nine matches, all on grass, with a 6-2, 7-6 (3), 6-2 victory over Roberto

Bautista Agut. Medvedev moved on when Grigor Dimitrov had to stop playing because of a leg injury in the first set.

There was another midmatch retirement in a women’s fourth-round match: 2017 U.S. Open runner-up Madison Keys hurt her leg, took a medical timeout, then briefly tried to continue. But she was wiping away tears as she walked to the net when she decided she needed to quit at 5-all in the third set against Jasmine Paolini, who was a finalist at this year’s French Open.

“I’m so sorry for her. To end the match like this, it’s bad. What can I say?” Paolini said. “I’m feeling a little bit happy, but also sad for her. It’s not easy to win like that.”

Paolini next meets Navarro. The other women’s quarterfinal established Sunday is Lulu Sun against Donna Vekic. Sun eliminated 2021 U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 to become the first woman to get through qualifying and reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals since 2010, and the first woman from New Zealand to get that far at the All England Club in the Open era, which began in 1968. Vekic ousted Paula Badosa 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 in a match disrupted by three rain delays.

ALBERTO PEZZALI/AP As hard as it may be to believe, Carlos Alcaraz won this point against Ugo Humbert during their fourth-round match at Wimbledon. Alcaraz fell, popped to his feet and a few shots later watched as Humbert hit long.