Alcaraz douses Paul fireworks at Wimbledon

If Carlos Alcaraz was watching Tommy Paul from Wimbledon's Court One stands, he might have been left drooling over the American's breathtaking variety of shot-making.

Unfortunately for the Wimbledon champion, he was actually standing across the net in their quarter-final showdown and for over 90 minutes on Tuesday he kept being dragged into a succession of fast-and-furious rallies that left him a set and a break down.

Luckily for Alcaraz, he eventually produced the goods on the crunch moments to end the spellbinding contest with a 5-7 6-4 6-2 6-2 victory.

As Alcaraz desperately chased after the "laser beam" winners flying off Paul's racket in the first set, the Spaniard often found himself sliding and slipping over around the threadbare baseline with the match taking place under a closed roof on another sodden day in London.

However, any hopes Paul might have harboured of ending his country's 21-year-wait for a men's Grand Slam champion at the All England Club this weekend were eventually snuffed out.

"In the first set and at the beginning of the second set, (it felt like) I was playing on clay, with big rallies and every point going over 10-15 shots," Alcaraz told the crowd after winning the battle of the two most recent Queen's Club champions.

"I had to stay strong mentally when I lost the first set, it was difficult for me. It was a long journey for me, it was a long match so I was happy to find the solutions (to win)."