By Erik Gudris | @atntennis | Friday, June 23, 2023
If you are looking for a darkhorse favorite for this year’s Wimbledon, look no further than Sebastian Korda.
And that’s directly from his words.
The rising 22-year-old American Korda made another step to being in the mix for Wimbledon with an impressive straight sets win over British No. 1 Cameron Norrie at Queen’s Club.
Korda booked his first ever appearance in a grass court tournament semifinal after defeating Norrie 6-4, 7-6 (1) in their quarterfinal meeting at the ATP 500 grass warmup Clinch Championships, now the home of the long-running Queen’s Club event.
Norrie, who reached last year’s Wimbledon semifinals, enjoyed the support of the home crowd in this encounter. Yet it was Korda who often held the upper hand throughout this quarterfinal.
Despite Norrie forcing his way into a second set tiebreak, Korda assumed control of the breaker and eventually ran away with the straight sets win.
So far at Queen’s Club, Korda has yet to drop a set.
Korda, the son of former Australian Open winner Petr Korda, this year has dealt with numerous injury setbacks. That includes a wrist injury that he suffered at the Australian Open and forced him off the tour for three months.
During his time off, Korda worked on building up his strength in all parts of his body. That included him hiring Andy Murray’s former fitness coach Jez Green to work with him in that aspect.
Korda, after an opening-round win over red-hot Frances Tiafoe at Queen’s Club declared himself a favorite for Wimbledon based upon his proficiency on grass.
“I’m very confident in myself on a grass court,” Korda said earlier in the event. “I move really well, I definitely have a game that not very many people have. I’m an aggressive player, like to come to the net, I have good hands. I definitely feel as I’m one of the favorites at Wimbledon.”
Korda will face top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz for a spot in Sunday's final.
US Open champion Alcaraz defeated Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-4 in today's final quarterfinal. Alcaraz has won two of three meetings vs. Korda; this will be their first grass-court clash.
Photo credit: Getty