Alcaraz took mere minutes to remind Taylor Fritz how difficult his afternoon was going to be, pouncing on him immediately with some blistering blows to break in the first game.

If Fritz was caught napping early, then he did his best to wake from his slumber with some spectacular hitting at times – but that often seemed his only path to winning points, particularly on Alcaraz’s serve, which was humming in the opening set.

Alcaraz threatened to break Fritz’s serve a second time, but the American dodged trouble to force his Spanish rival to serve the set out, which he did to love, including a pair of thunderous aces and another unreturned serve.

There was a different feel from the outset of the second set, with Fritz holding comfortably then starting to make inroads on return as Alcaraz’s sky-high level dipped. Play also stopped twice for British fans struggling in London’s heat wave, which only added to the tension.

Fritz had already restricted Alcaraz to deuce or 15-30 in three of his previous four service games, including a first break point in the eighth game, by the time he finally broke the Spaniard to level the match.

It was an awful game from Alcaraz, who double-faulted for 0-40 then wildly flayed a forehand beyond the baseline to concede.

However, order was restored in the third game of the third set when Fritz slumped to 0-40, with Alcaraz having the fifth seed on a string with first a drop shot then sending him scurrying the other way with a lob that he could not get back into play.

That was all Alcaraz needed to cruise to a two-sets-to-one lead.

But Fritz, who reached last year’s US Open final, continued to hang around, even digging deep to stave off a potentially match-crippling break point in the sixth game of the fourth set with some aggressive tennis.

The contest continued to zip by with few extended rallies, and they both began dominating on serve as the tie-breaker approached.

One ill-advised drop shot in the tie-break threatened to cost Fritz dearly. Alcaraz used the tactic regularly and with great effect to expose Fritz’s movement, but trying it against the athletic Spaniard was always fraught with danger.

Alcaraz chased it down, won the point and shot 4-1 clear, but Fritz came charging back with the next five points, starting with a brilliant backhand down the line to draw level.

Loading

With a fifth set staring him in the face, the American would have desperately wished for a service winner. Alcaraz had other ideas, neutralising the point then forcing his way to the net to draw an error. Fritz’s second set point was on Alcaraz’s serve, and he made a deep return, but ballooned a forehand long to lose it.

Everything happened quickly from there as Alcaraz proved his “King Carlos” status again.

Fritz was highly impressive in defeat and has established himself in the same second tier as world No.3 Alex Zverev, behind the new Big Three – Alcaraz, Sinner and Djokovic.

Earlier, Australia’s Olivia Gadecki could not match compatriot Rinky Hijikata in reaching the Wimbledon doubles final. She and American partner Desirae Krawczyk went down 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 to eighth seeds Elise Mertens and Veronika Kudermetova in their women’s semi-final.