Defending Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz came close to relinquishing his crown against inspired American Frances Tiafoe but fought back to win 5-7, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-2 on Centre Court on Friday.

With his back to the wall when trailing by two sets to one and being outplayed by the swashbuckling Tiafoe, the Spanish third seed suddenly found an extra gear to seize control.

Alcaraz came under intense pressure throughout a spellbinding third-round contest played in a superb spirit and which had the crowd fully involved.

Tiafoe looked on the verge of avenging the five-set defeat he suffered against Alcaraz in the semi-finals of the 2022 US Open deep in the fourth set. But Alcaraz responded in devastating fashion to blaze through the tiebreak and the fifth set was one-way traffic as Tiafoe’s energy levels finally began to subside.

Alcaraz clinched victory with a drop shot and the two players embraced warmly at the net as the crowd erupted.

On Thursday, Denmark’s Holger Rune recovered from a slow start against Brazil’s Thiago Seyboth Wild to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.

Stefanos Tsitsipas, however, was a casualty after the 11th seed from Greece went down 7-6(6) 7-6(10) 3-6 6-3 to Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori. Fourth seed Alexander Zverev thumped Marcos Giron 6-2, 6-1, 6-4.

Second seed sails

Second seed Coco Gauff ended the dream run of British qualifier Sonay Kartal as the American marched into the fourth round of Wimbledon with a 6-4, 6-0 victory.

Gauff was pushed hard by a player who began the week ranked 298th in the world, but once she banked the opening set the outcome of the match was never in doubt.

Emma Raducanu defeated ninth seed Maria Sakkari 6-2, 6-3.

Jasmine Paolini continued to carry the flag for Italian tennis on the women’s side as the seventh seed downed former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu 7-6(4), 6-1 to make the fourth round for the first time.

The diminutive French Open runner-up, who also reached the last 16 at the Australian Open this season, became the first woman from her nation to make the second week at each of the first three majors in a single year.

Paula Badosa rallied from a break down in the final set to snap Daria Kasatkina’s seven-match win streak. The former world No.2 came back from 4-2 down in the third set to win 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-4 in 2 hours and 51 minutes.

Badosa, 26, did not hold back her tears after the hard-fought win, which put her into Wimbledon’s second week for the third time in her career and first since the debilitating back injury that has plagued her since the start of 2023.

Yuki falls

India’s Yuki Bhambri and his French partner Albano Olivetti lost their second round doubles match to eighth-seeded German combination of Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz 6-4, 4-6, 3-6.