By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Carlos Alcaraz’s quest for his fourth Grand Slam championship title is still alive after outdueling French challenger Ugo Humbert- 6.3, 6.4, 1.6, 7.5- during the ongoing Wimbledon tennis tournament on July 7, 2024.
Fresh off an exhausting five-set thrilling victory over Frances Tiafoe to advance to the Round of 16, Alcaraz showed he still got enough gas left in the tank after only dropping a single set against Humbert.
With the impressive victory, Alcaraz just nabbed a quarterfinal seat in the most prestigious grass surface tournament and will be squaring off against world no. 12 ranked Tommy Paul of the US.
Against Humbert, Alcaraz made sure that he couldn’t afford to start slow once again and immediately switched on attack mode to gain the early momentum.
It was evident that Alcaraz’s strategy was to set the tone in the first set by maintaining his hitting rhythm in the baseline exchanges.
During his game against Tiafoe where he lost the opening frame, Alcaraz seemed impatient and was always looking for the power forehand that could end the long rallies.
Lessons were quickly learned for the young Spaniard as he became more patient with his offensive approach against Humbert.
From his approach to the net to his baseline set-ups, Alcaraz’s scored points were generated mostly from his wise shot selection.
Noticing that Humbert likes to throw more wide balls in the backhand side, Alcaraz quickly countered with a cross-court top spin in the net area.
With the short balls that Alcaraz threw, the French challenger was always in the middle of nowhere in the center part of the court, resulting in several defensive disasters.
Humbert showed some signs of life when he crushed Alcaraz in the third that pulled him to within a set, 2-1, but the world no. 3 player fended off his efforts in the fourth after scoring two crucial break points that helped him seal the deal.
