Wimbledon 2024: Alfie Hewett’s title dream continues with third straight final
• 2 MINUTE READ
Alfie Hewett is through to his third consecutive Wimbledon men’s wheelchair singles final after an inspired comeback victory over third seed Gustavo Fernandez.
The world No.2 came from a set and 3-1 down to defeat the Argentinian 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 after almost two and three-quarter hours in front of a strong British crowd out on No.3 Court.
It’s the third time that Hewett has defeated the 30-year-old Argentine on grass in their five meetings - backing up the Brit’s win at the Rothesay International Eastbourne only a few weeks ago.
In the final, Hewett will fourth seed Martin de la Puente. This will be the first Grand Slam final meeting between the pair.
Hewett has lifted eight Grand Slam singles titles in his career so far, but the Wimbledon crown is the only one he is still yet to win.
It was an impressive start from world No.3 Fernandez, who utilised his strength and powerful groundstrokes to take an early stronghold in the match. Hewett managed to overturn a 4-1 deficit but with the 26-year-old serving to stay in the match, the Argentine caught a couple of big return winners before clinching his second set point.
The biggest improvement in the second set was the Brit’s first serve – rising to 51% in the first to 79% as he continued to put the pressure on the 2019 champion.
Although he was broken early in the set, the Brit showed his never say die resilience. From 3-1 down, Hewett went on to win five of the last six games in the second set, closing out a number of deuce games with some big points when he needed them most.
Throughout a cagey deciding set, it felt that Hewett had the upper hand, but Fernandez refused to let him stretch in front. After a series of long and tightly contested games, the Brit got a clean winner off a second serve return to clinch what could have been the pivotal break for a 5-4 lead.
However, the Argentinian managed to break back before it was over to Hewett again to try and serve out the match.
Hewett saw five match points come and go, but stayed resilient to clinch the win on the sixth time of asking and after a 12 minute service game, as Fernandez’s backhand landed in the tramlines.
In pure elation, Hewett launched his racket into the air before celebrating another Wimbledon final with his team.
Hewett will be back in doubles action later today with Gordon Reid against Tom Egberink and Maikel Scheffers.
The Championships, Wimbledon results & updates
Get all the latest results and updates from the British players competing at The Championships, Wimbledon between 1-14 July.
