Carlos Alcaraz has described his semi-final match with Sebastian Korda at Queen’s Club as special heading into Saturday’s showdown.
The Spaniard booked his place into the last four with a 6-4 6-4 victory over Grigor Dimitrov on Friday evening.
Alcaraz did get broken on two separate occasions but came through a stern test to reach the semi-finals.
After the match Alcaraz admitted he played very well to secure only his fifth win on grass of his career, “The work that I put in, the matches that I played [at] a great level helped me a lot coming into this really tough match,” the Spaniard told the ATP website.
“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.”
The win means Alcaraz is into his first grass court semi-final and his eighth of the season.
Now the Spaniard will play Sebastian Korda, who defeated Cameron Norrie in straight sets and is finding his form nicely on the grass as well.
Speaking about playing his young rivals Alcaraz spoke about playing players that are a similar age to him and described his semi-final against Korda as ‘special,’ “It’s great to play against the young players like me,” Alcaraz said.
“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’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.”
Saturday’s semi-final will be the fourth time they have faced each other with Alcaraz leading the head-to-head 2-1.
Meanwhile the other semi-final will see Holger Rune take on Alex De Minaur with Rune receiving treatment on his wrist during his quarter-final with Lorenzo Musetti.
After the match Rune admitted grass courts are tough on the body but is optimistic about his chances in the last four, “Grass is also tough for the body,” the Dane told the ATP website.
“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.
“I had, since I woke up this morning, some pain in the wrist. I think grass is so much faster than clay, so if you become a bit late on the ball, or on the serve [return], it’s a lot of pressure on your wrist. That was the case. I took some treatment. It was painful a couple of games after but I feel okay now.”
Rune currently leads the head-to-head with De Minaur 2-1 with the Australian winning their last meeting in Acapulco this year.
Should Rune win the title at Queen’s Club then he will rise to a career high ranking of five in the world.
