Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz celebrates after beating Alexandre Muller of France in a males’s singles match on day 5 of the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, on July 7, 2023.| Photo Credit: AP

Carlos Alcaraz swept into the third spherical of Wimbledon on Friday, beating Frenchman Alexandre Muller 6-4, 7-6 (7/2), 6-3.

The Spanish high seed, who reached the final 16 final yr, is trying to turn into the third-youngest participant within the Open Era to win the title after Boris Becker and Bjorn Borg.

The 20-year-old, seen as the best menace to defending champion Novak Djokovic, gained his opening match in opposition to French veteran Jeremy Chardy on Tuesday.

But heavy rain has performed havoc with the schedule on the All England Club - Djokovic, in motion later Friday in opposition to Stan Wawrinka, is a spherical forward of his rival.

A single break was sufficient for Alcaraz to seal the primary set and he gained the second-set tie-break to take an iron grip on the competition.

He broke 84th-ranked Muller once more within the eighth sport of the third set and served out for the match.

The U.S. Open champion gained his first grass court docket title at Queen’s final month.

“I’m really, really happy to play here again and this time with a win on this really beautiful court,” he mentioned. “I wanted to enjoy every single second and I think I did.”

Alcaraz mentioned he was studying shortly on grass - he's enjoying in solely his fourth event on the floor.

“I’m playing really, really well on grass. I’m not an experienced guy like other players but I’m enjoying playing on grass... getting better every match that I play.

“Playing here in Wimbledon is something special. You feel different compared to other tournaments.”