The young Carlos Alcaraz, ninth in the ATP ranking, qualified for the final of the Madrid Tennis Masters 1000 after beating the world number one, Novak Djokovic, 6-7 (5/7), 7-5 and 7 this Saturday -6 (7/5), in a long and exciting game.
Alcaraz, who had beaten Rafa Nadal in the quarterfinals the day before, will face the winner of the last match of the day in Sunday’s final, the second semifinal between the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas and the German Alexander Zverev, current champion of the Madrid tournament.
The young man from Murcia, who made sure to climb from ninth to sixth place in the world rankings on Monday, becomes the first player to win consecutively on clay against Nadal and Djokovic.
"It has been a game to enjoy, despite the tension of being a semi-final of the tournament. I enjoyed to the last point"said Alcaraz after beating the number one in the world.
Alcaraz is thus still in contention to try to win his first trophy in the Madrid tournament, which would be added to those won this season in Barcelona, Miami and Rio de Janeiro.
The young player, who turned 19 this week, worked hard for 3 hours and 35 minutes to beat Djokovic.
The match started for Alcaraz, who broke Djokovic’s service from the start to go ahead.
The Spaniard once again showed his explosive game and did damage with his drop shots, but ‘Nole’ leveled up to break Alcaraz’s serve and make it 5-5.
The Serb, very confident with his serve, took the first set to a tie-break, which Djokovic closed with his fourth set point.
The second round was very even with both contenders defending their serve.
Alcaraz saved a break point in the eleventh game to take a 6-5 lead and in the next game he broke Djokovic’s serve with a spectacular counter break to send the match to the third set.
The third set was another one-on-one duel, without either of them giving up their serve.
With the score at 5-4, Djokovic saved a match point from Alcaraz to put up an equalizer that would last until the match went to a tie-break, where Alcaraz came out on top to secure his sixth straight win against a Top-10.
This Saturday’s day will continue with the women’s final between the Tunisian Ons Jabeur and the American Jessica Pegula.
In the last match of the day, Zverev, who is defending his crown, will meet Tsitsipas for a place in the final.
gr/dr
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Document referencehttp://doc.afp.com/329N33P SLUGTENIS – ATP – ESP – SRB Creation date05/07/2022 13:23 UTC-5
Alcaraz beats Djokovic and gets into the final of the Madrid tournament
Tennis | ATP | ESP | SRB associated with x
Madrid, Spain | AFP | Saturday 05/07/2022 – 13:23 UTC-5 | 431 words
The young Carlos Alcaraz, ninth in the ATP ranking, qualified for the final of the Madrid Tennis Masters 1000 after beating the world number one, Novak Djokovic, 6-7 (5/7), 7-5 and 7 this Saturday -6 (7/5), in a long and exciting game.
Alcaraz, who had beaten Rafa Nadal in the quarterfinals the day before, will face the winner of the last match of the day in Sunday’s final, the second semifinal between the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas and the German Alexander Zverev, current champion of the Madrid tournament.
The young man from Murcia, who made sure to climb from ninth to sixth place in the world rankings on Monday, becomes the first player to win consecutively on clay against Nadal and Djokovic.
"It has been a game to enjoy, despite the tension of being a semi-final of the tournament. I enjoyed to the last point"said Alcaraz after beating the number one in the world.
Alcaraz is thus still in contention to try to win his first trophy in the Madrid tournament, which would be added to those won this season in Barcelona, Miami and Rio de Janeiro.
The young player, who turned 19 this week, worked hard for 3 hours and 35 minutes to beat Djokovic.
The match started for Alcaraz, who broke Djokovic’s service from the start to go ahead.
The Spaniard once again showed his explosive game and did damage with his drop shots, but ‘Nole’ leveled up to break Alcaraz’s serve and make it 5-5.
The Serb, very confident with his serve, took the first set to a tie-break, which Djokovic closed with his fourth set point.
The second round was very even with both contenders defending their serve.
Alcaraz saved a break point in the eleventh game to take a 6-5 lead and in the next game he broke Djokovic’s serve with a spectacular counter break to send the match to the third set.
The third set was another one-on-one duel, without either of them giving up their serve.
With the score at 5-4, Djokovic saved a match point from Alcaraz to put up an equalizer that would last until the match went to a tie-break, where Alcaraz came out on top to secure his sixth straight win against a Top-10.
This Saturday’s day will continue with the women’s final between the Tunisian Ons Jabeur and the American Jessica Pegula.
In the last match of the day, Zverev, who is defending his crown, will meet Tsitsipas for a place in the final.