Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz survives a HUGE scare at Wimbledon as he narrowly edges five-set, four-hour epic on Centre Court against Frances Tiafoe

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For all the style with which Carlos Alcaraz has staked his claim to this era of the men's game, it was substance that kept him from the inquisitions and indignities of an early departure on Friday.

This was a day for grit. A day when beauty was not possible and his continued participation in these championships hinged on his navigation of a hurricane named Frances Tiafoe.

And what an examination that proved to be, stretched across almost four hours and occurring four days after the American bemoaned his propensity for 'losing to clowns'. Here, he nearly took down the king.

The world No 29 twice led Alcaraz by a set, but if a truism of sport is that the greats are built on resilience, then the defending champion demonstrated his suitability for the description. 

Going into the fourth-set tiebreak, he had just about run out of room for a revival, but in a sudden burst he found a higher gear to level the match before dominating the decider, with two breaks in the first five games of the fifth.

Carlos Alcaraz delivered one of the grittiest displays of Wimbledon so far in a five-set epic

The Spaniard (left) and Frances Tiafoe (right) served up all the drama for a Centre Court crowd

If Alcaraz is to go on to claim the fourth Slam of his career this fortnight, he might just reflect on this third-round encounter as the point when he woke up through necessity. 

Until this clash, he had not dropped a set, but nor had he got close to his best and it is has become a theme that he has started matches slowly. That he could fight his way past an opponent with whom he memorably contested a five-setter at the 2022 US Open will be the main positive of his experience.

When the ordeal was over, he said: 'All I was thinking throughout this match was, "OK, fight one more ball, one more ball, next point". And in the tie break I tell myself: "Go for it".'

That mantra extended to him then dashing from Centre Court to find the nearest screen showing Spain's European Championship quarter-final with Germany. Turns out he wasn't the only Spaniard to find Friday a bit of a slog.

The third seed will next face the winner of Brandon Nakashima's meeting with the world No 16 Ugo Humbert, which ought to provide for more momentum going towards the second week. As ever, familiarity with these lawns is a process and part of the challenge.

In this instance, he found the going tough quickly against Tiafoe, who has a brilliantly entertaining game but has been on the slide this year. He has admitted to struggling to focus on lower-key occasions, but this was not one of those appointments – as such he rose to the level that has previously had him ranked as high as world No 10.

Tiafoe took a two sets to one lead but was worn down eventually by the defending champion

Alcaraz held his nerve impressively and took chances in key moments to edge to victory

Having been broken to fall 4-2 behind in the first set, the American hit back immediately and then again on his way to taking the first 7-5. Waving his arms and screaming for more from the crowd, he was on a roll.

When Alcaraz upped his level in the second, this appeared to be one of those matches where the tension would be short-lived, but a woeful service game at 3-3 from the 21-year-old phenomenon had him flapping again. Tiafoe capitalised and a drama was becoming the kind of crisis that will be noted by other seeds in the men's draw.

If there was a glaring issue, it was in the volume of Alcaraz's unforced errors. By the time Alcaraz had won the fourth, he had amassed no fewer than 36 such mistakes, so this was a day of wayward hitting. In conceding only three in the decider it is clear that he was at least able to awaken when it was most needed.