Briton Hewett reaches Wimbledon final
Briton Alfie Hewett continued his quest for a first Wimbledon singles title with a thrilling win over Argentine Gustavo Fernandez to reach Sunday’s final.
The second seed recovered from a set and a break down to beat world number three Fernandez 4-6 6-4 7-5 in front of a partisan crowd on court three.
Hewett has won eight Grand Slam singles titles and has won every major across singles and doubles – except the Wimbledon singles title.
The 26-year-old made a poor start against Fernandez to fall 4-1 behind. He recovered to 4-4 only to be broken again and lost the set.
He struggled again at the start of the second set, but from 3-1 down won five of the next six games to level the match.
After an evenly-matched opening to the deciding set, Hewett broke at 4-4 but was unable to serve out for the match.
Buoyed by the home support he broke again to 15 and then played out a lengthy final game, getting over the line on his sixth match point to reach his third consecutive Wimbledon final after two hours 41 minutes.
The result avenged Hewett’s French Open semi-final loss to Fernandez – the 2019 Wimbledon champion – six weeks ago.
And his emotion was clear at the conclusion, throwing his racquet above him and pointing to his support team.
Hewett also plays later on Friday in the men’s doubles semi-finals alongside partner Gordon Reid against Dutch duo Tom Egberink and Maikel Scheffers.
Hewett and Reid are the defending champions and have won five of the past seven Wimbledon doubles titles.
On Thursday, Hewett had been hampered by a shoulder issue, although there were no signs of an injury on Friday.