Alcaraz Into First Grass SF In Queen’s, Gets Korda; Rune v De Minaur

It’s a youthful final four at the Queen’s Club this weekend in London, and the semifinalists will be led by top seed Carlos Alcaraz.

The 20-year-old eased past former champion Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-4 to reach his first semifinal on grass.

“The work that I put in, the matches that I played a great level helped me a lot coming into this really tough match,” Alcaraz said to the ATP. “Grigor is a top player in every surface, but I would say even more here on grass, he feels the ball really well.

“I just played really well from the beginning until the last ball.”

Alcaraz had five aces, was broken twice but broke serve four times in the match, and had four love holds. Dimitrov was plagued by seven double faults. He had the led in the second at 2-0 but now has lost all three matches against the Spaniard.

Alcaraz reaches his 21st career semifinal where he will face American Sebastian Korda.

Korda dismissed the last Brit and 5th-seeded Cameron Norrie 6-4, 7-6(7-1).

“It’s great to play against the young players like me,” Alcaraz added. “We are setting the generation and obviously we are going to play a lot of matches at such great events, great tournaments. It’ going to be really fun to play.

“Sebi, he’s a friend,” he continued, looking ahead to Saturday’s matchup. “He’s coming with great tennis. Of course I would say it’s going to be a really good match. I hope the crowd enjoys that match because it’s something special.”

Second-seeded Holger Rune kept pace with Alcaraz topping No. 6 seed Lorenzo Musetti 6-4, 7-5 to make his first semifinal on this surface.

The Italian led 3-1 in the first before dropping five of the next six games. In the second, Rune saved two set points at 5-4 and then broke at 5-5.

Rune makes his 12th career semifinal. He’ll now meeting the 7th-seeded Alex De Minaur who defeated 35-year-old lefty from France Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

“I enjoy it. I think I’m starting to play better and better,” Rune said to the press. “Getting more challenging in every match and I think my mindset has been incredibly good these three matches. I’ve been able to come from a break behind and stay in the moment.

“Grass is also tough for the body. First few matches, every part of your body has to get used to it, the movement, the upper body, everything. So I was struggling a bit but I’m happy that I could finish and win a match.”