Tennis-Alcaraz and Raducanu ready to take center stage | WSAU News/Talk 550 AM 99.9 FM

By Pritha Sarkar

LONDON (Reuters) – Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz will be looking for a 10th consecutive victory at the All England Club when he takes on American rival Frances Tiafoe in the third round, while Emma Raducanu will hope her Wimbledon adventure is not cut short on Friday.

If their last encounter is anything to go by, Centre Court fans are in for a treat as Tiafoe battled the Spaniard for five sets in the 2022 US Open semi-finals before Alcaraz emerged victorious to claim the title.

“Frances is a great player… he always seems to enjoy his time on the court. He tries to put on a show every time he steps on the court,” said Alcaraz, who is tied 1-1 in their meetings with the 29th-seeded American.

“It’s going to be a really fun game to play and watch. I’m going to try to put my best weapons on the game and try to beat him.

“Once you step on the court, you’re not friends anymore. You have to focus on yourself and try to beat him. That’s how tennis works.”

While three-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz clearly has his sights set on lifting the golden Challenge Cup for a second time, his 21-year-old British compatriot will hope Raducanu’s immediate goals will be more modest.

The 2021 US Open champion simply wants to “stay one more day” at the major grass-court tournament, given that she needed an invitation from the organisers to play at Wimbledon, her ranking having dropped to 135th after an injury-plagued 2023.

She will face Greek ninth seed Maria Sakkari in a rematch of the 2021 Flushing Meadows semi-final.

Despite winning her remarkable run in New York, when Raducanu became the first qualifier to win a major tournament, the Briton stressed that too much has happened since then for anything to be learned from that result.

“The circumstances are different. For example, a third round (here) compared to a semi-final. Back then, the dynamics were also different. I was an unknown player (at the time),” she said.

“I expect a very tough match. She’s in the top 10 in the world. It’s going to be a very tough match. I’m a complete outsider and I can just enjoy playing in front of my home crowd, playing at home, and keep having fun.”

Jannik Sinner, the men’s number one seed, will close the Centre Court schedule for a second consecutive match, this time against Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic.

He will be keen to avoid another late-night blockbuster after being knocked out close to Wimbledon’s 11pm curfew by 2021 finalist and fellow Italian Matteo Berrettini in the previous round.

Another Italian, seventh seed Jasmine Paolini, will open the proceedings on Court One against 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu and will be followed by Bulgarian tenth seed Grigor Dimitrov against French showman Gaël Monfils.

American second seed Coco Gauff will look to move one step closer to her title favourite status when she takes on British qualifier Sonay Kartal.

(Reporting by Pritha Sarkar, editing by Christian Radnedge)