The first set was easy. Carlos Alcaraz, seeded No. 2 at Wimbledon 2025 but clearly the favorite coming into the tournament, was moving well and hitting the shots that only he and (maybe) Jannik Sinner can hit, and the Spaniard dominated Jan-Lennard Struff in their third-round Wimbledon match.
That is when, oddly but successfully, Struff decided to dial up the intensity of his serve and forehand, and began to go nuclear by hitting everything with maximum velocity. First serve at 137 mph? Sure. Second serve the same way (hit or miss)? Yep.
The chances Struff took clearly caught the great Spaniard off guard and after being destroyed in the first set, Struff came back to win the second set 6-3. It made little sense as well as Alcaraz was playing, other than Struff had to resort to doing what he was doing. It was daring and brilliant.
Carlos Alcaraz outlasts Jan-Lennard Struff in the third round at Wimbledon
And then reality set in with the third set when Struff was not quite as crisp and Alcaraz took advantage by getting the only break he would need, winning the set 6-3. The Spaniard seemed certain to win the match, but the first set had only taken 27 minutes so anything that happened after in favor of the German was slightly shocking.
Struff has never been and never will be the player Carlos Alcaraz is. Few players are. Few players ever have the hand skills the young Spaniard has, but yet, even he was constantly off-balance by Struff's constant wailing away. The German would cost himself as much as hurt Alcaraz with the bombardment, though.
He had too many double-faults (nearly as many as his double-digit aces), but he had to stay aggressive. He had little chance otherwise. He also began attacking the net a lot more, doing so only once in the first set but at least 12 times in each set thereafter. It was a great approach, but one that began a set too late.
Struff had his chances at 4-all and serving, but he missed an open court shot at the net. It was the kind that lesser players cannot have against great players. In the end, Alcaraz was able to keep his poise against Struff's constantly huge strikes and took the fourth and final set 6-4.
Alcaraz will next face another all-out player, Andrey Rublev, in the fourth round. The Russian is more skilled than Struff, but might take some pointers on how the German played the Spaniard. If Rublev can be more consistent, Alcaraz might have a real fight on his hands.