Norrie won their last meeting on the clay of Rio de Janeiro two years ago, when Alcaraz was just a teenager. Now, this lad from Murcia in southeastern Spain is looking to add his name to the honours board at the All England Club for the third time, aged just 23. Only a fool would bet against him at this juncture.

Norrie, the last Briton standing in SW19, saw a match point saved in the third set against Nicolas Jarry in the previous round before eventually winning over five sets. Tim Henman and Andy Murray are the only other British stars to reach two Wimbledon quarter-finals this century.

The Spaniard dropped the first set against Andrey Rublev in the Round of 16, but he came back to win 6-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, to advance to the quarterfinals. Alcaraz has won 18 matches on the spin at the All England Club.