The Spanish Carlos Alcaraz dealt the first defeat of the year to Italian Jannik Sinner and will seek a second title followed by the Masters 1000 of Indian Wells in another final against Daniil Medvedev, who came back in the match against the American Tommy Paul.
Alcaraz also had to overcome a first set down in a vibrant match with Sinner, the other gem of the new generation, which was stopped for three hours due to the rain.
The Spaniard won 1-6, 6-3 and 6-2, ending Sinner’s 16-game unbeaten streak this year, also maintaining second place in the ATP ranking.
“The matches with Jannik are always special,” admitted Alcaraz. “Every time I face Jannik I will get nervous. That’s for sure. Because I know that I have to play one hundred percent against him if I want to beat him.”
“We have a very good rivalry and of course ending the streak of 16 games is incredible for me,” he stressed.
Alcaraz, 20 years old, has in his hands to be the first champion to retain the crown in the Californian desert since Novak Djokovic.
The Serbian eliminated this year in its second crossing, He chained three titles in a row between 2014 and 2016.
The comeback is also a huge boost of confidence for Alcaraz by stopping the advance of its great generational rival who, adding the end of last year, had accumulated 19 games without losing.
Sinner, 22 years old, won the Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January and dominated the ranking of matches against Alcaraz with four victories in seven duels, including the previous two.
Own Alcaraz described him this week as “the best in the world right now.”
But, as happened a year ago in these same semifinals, Sinner He couldn’t beat Alcaraz in a match that started brilliantly and ended apparently weakened by a hard fall.
“It’s not the end of the streak that I wanted, but playing against him is always hard”he acknowledged Sinner. “I played good tennis, especially in the first set. Then I made some mistakes and the dynamic changed (…) He deserved to win.”
Alcaraz It went from low to high with the push of the public on the center court, the second largest in the world (16,000 spectators), and a successful change of strategy.
“I had to change my way of returning, I did it from further back. I gave myself the opportunity to make longer rallies and I felt better physically in the second set. That was the key to changing the match,” he described.
The start of the most anticipated duel of the tournament was interrupted after only 17 minutes by rain, which this year affected the tournament in an unusual way.
The detention lasted for three hours and, after resuming, Sinner He achieved the first break to advance 3-1.
It was another shock for Alcaraz, who on Thursday overcame a much more unusual incident when he was attacked on the track by an invasion of bees.
“I had the bees, I had the rain… Let’s see what happens tomorrow,” he joked.
Imposing from the bottom of the track, Sinner returned each of the powerful setbacks of Alcaraz and then he had the acceleration to reach his subtle climbs to the net.
The former world number, whose repertoire of blows is inexhaustible, found some cracks in his rocky opponent in the second set and broke his serve for the first time to lead 4-1.
As the match became balanced, the public enjoyed several points that brought the stands to their feet and unleashed the smiles of both players, good friends off the court.
In the decisive set Alcaraz He was again the first to break and took a 3-1 lead against a Sinner who injured his right arm in a fall.
“I fell on my elbow and rolled, so I had a hard time getting out afterwards,” Sinner explained.
After that mishap, the Italian did not put up any more battle and Alcaraz, After two hours and five minutes, he equaled the balance of this rivalry called to take over from the ‘Big 3’ (Federer, Nadal and Djokovic).
The Spaniard will face Daniil Medvedev again for the title, whom he swept in the 2023 final.
The Russian, who aspires to win the only one of the six Masters 1000 on a hard court that it does not have, He beat Tommy Paul 1-6, 7-6 (7/3) and 6-2.
The American, number 17 in the ATP, suffered a sprained ankle when he was dominating the tiebreak of the second set and was a few points away from his first ATP final. Masters 1000.
Source: Ambito
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