Alcaraz's Wimbledon win streak extends to 18

As Sabalenka reaches 11th consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal

LONDON — Carlos Alcaraz's latest up-and-down Wimbledon performance began with a dropped set. Later Sunday, he was in danger of getting broken to fall further behind in the third. And then, as he so often does, the Spaniard seized the moment, produced some magic and moved closer to a third consecutive title at the All England Club.

Alcaraz stretched his winning streak in the grass-court Grand Slam tournament to 18 matches — and his current unbeaten run across all events to 22 — by coming back to beat No 14 seed Andrey Rublev 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 on Centre Court to return to the quarterfinals.

In this year's first Wimbledon matchup between two men ranked in the top 20, No 2 Alcaraz brought out his best while down 3-2 in the third set. First, he needed to fend off a break chance for Rublev, doing so with a forehand passing winner.