Wimbledon’s last British hope Cameron Norrie swept aside by Carlos Alcaraz

British singles hopes at Wimbledon ended for another year with a straight-sets loss for Cameron Norrie against defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals.

Norrie had hoped to become just the third home player in the open era to defeat a men’s title holder in SW19 after Roger Taylor and Tim Henman but succumbed to a 6-2 6-3 6-3 defeat in just an hour and 39 minutes.

It has nevertheless been an excellent fortnight for the 29-year-old, who almost dropped out of the top 100 earlier this season three years after reaching the semi-finals here and has shown he can be a factor again.

Alcaraz, meanwhile, will take on Taylor Fritz in the last four on Friday as he continues his bid to make it three titles in a row at the All England Club.

Norrie’s progress meant he finally had to move from his favoured Court One on to the main stage, where he had lost four of his five previous matches, including against Alexander Zverev last year and Novak Djokovic in the last four in 2022.

Against Djokovic he had taken the first set to conjure dreams of a home finalist but here, with Lord of the Rings actor Sir Ian McKellen watching from the first row of the Royal Box, the wizardry came from Alcaraz.

Norrie, who got into a heated discussion with his previous opponent Nicolas Jarry over his vocal celebrations, let out a big cry of ‘Come on’ after holding serve in the opening game, and promptly created four break points in the second.

But Alcaraz saved them all and from there the contest was played almost entirely on the Spaniard’s terms.

A double fault gave the second seed a break for 2-1, and he made it four games in a row with a forehand pass hooked improbably on to the baseline.

Alcaraz was enjoying himself, sending Norrie scrambling to all corners of Centre Court with fizzing forehands and artistic volleys, and it took the Spaniard just 28 minutes to wrap up the first set.

Norrie, who had won two of his last three meetings with Alcaraz, can rarely be faulted for effort but he was playing against someone with more clubs in his bag, and another precision drop shot from the 22-year-old gave him a third break of the match in the third game of the second set.

Carlos Alcaraz slides into a forehand. PA Media

Alcaraz’s weapons also include a thumping serve and, when Norrie did create an opportunity to hit back in the sixth game, it disappeared in the flash of an ace.

The British player, who will see his ranking climb from 61 to just outside the top 40, was actually winning a majority of the long rallies, but dragging Alcaraz into the sort of dogfight he has made his trademark was much easier said than done.

Norrie fought hard to hold on to his serve in the early stages of the third set, and then saved a match point at 2-5, but it was simply delaying the inevitable.