The Murcian Carlos Alcaraz, number one in men’s tennis, defeated the American Taylor Fritz in two sets at dawn this Thursday and scored for a new duel against the Italian Jannik Sinner in the semifinals of the Masters 1000 in Miami.
Alcaraz, who needs to revalidate this title to maintain the ATP lead, only needed 79 minutes to beat the best American tennis player today 6-4, 6-2. The 19-year-old phenomenon from El Palmar has accumulated an astonishing streak of 10 consecutive victories without dropping a single set, with which this month he lifted his first Masters 1000 trophy in Indian Wells (California).
The Murcian started each set breaking the serve of Fritz, last year’s Indian Wells champion, who ended up completely frustrated without finding answers before the overwhelming tennis of his young rival.
“It was probably my best game of the entire tournament, but I think I’m playing at a good level in every game,” Alcaraz stressed at the end of the match. “Today’s level was really high, but Sinner is a big opponent so I have to play at this level or even better,” he added.
His last obstacle to his second straight final in Miami will be the Italian Jannik Sinner, in a repeat of the Indian Wells semifinals on March 18 in which the Spaniard clearly won.
The other semifinal crossing, which will be played on Friday, will be starred by the Russians Karen Khachanov and Daniil Medvedev, Alcaraz’s victim in the Indian Wells final.
The Murcian is only two steps away from not only keeping the ATP number one, which in case of not winning would return to the absent Novak Djokovic, but also from extending his list of precocity brands. If he lifts his fourth Masters 1000 crown on Sunday, he will become the youngest tennis player to win in the same year in Indian Wells and Miami, the so-called “Sunshine Double.”
“It’s very rare to see someone so young and with such a developed game, with nothing to work so hard on,” Fritz said of the Spaniard before comparing him to the start of the ‘Big 3’ (Federer, Nadal, Djokovic) careers. . “He has a lot of different ways of playing and can incorporate a lot of different game plans to face different players, because he has a lot of tools to win a game. I think it’s something that none (of the Big 3) had at such a young age,” he noted. “I definitely felt like I had more room to breathe against those guys than I did in this match,” he said.
The duel between Alcaraz and Fritz, the first between the two on the circuit, was held a day late due to the rains that fell this week in Miami. The Murcian resumed the competition with the same dizzying pace with which he has been dispatching rivals towards an unusual ‘Sunshine Double’ with no set lost.
Against Fritz, the world number 10, Alcaraz soon deployed all his irresistible repertoire of blows and this time with practically total effectiveness, committing only one unforced error for 12 of the American. He broke the local figure first and put him running with powerful forehands, sharp backhands and exquisite drop shots.
Fritz, who had just eliminated Danish pearl Holger Rune in straight sets in the round of 16, did not bow his head and rolled up his sleeves to respond to the attacks of the world number one. The Californian, clinging to his chances of reaching his first semifinals in Miami, and the Spaniard played some of the highest quality games of the tournament, culminating in a break point from Fritz to tie 3-3. Not resenting the pressure, Alcaraz neutralized break point with several intimidating forehands, winning the first set and setting the next one on track by breaking Fritz’s first serve.
“Losing my serve again to start the second set was very demoralizing, because I had to play another set from behind,” Fritz acknowledged. “Obviously, playing against the best player in the world, you can’t lose your serve to start the two sets (…) He won all the important points in the match, which made a big difference.”
The American didn’t throw in the towel but he also failed to earn any opportunity to level the score against an Alcaraz sprinting to another devastating victory in front of a dedicated crowd.
“Semis again, Miami I love you,” thanked the current US Open champion in the message written on the tournament camera.
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