Alcaraz ends Paul's curse

American Tommy Paul, number 19 in the world, arrived at Tuesday’s match with sky-high morale. In his last twelve matches against Spanish players he had always won. Paul beat Carlos Alcaraz in Montreal last year and had also been the executioner of Roberto Bautista, Pablo Carreño, Rafa Nadal, Bernabé Zapata, Albert Ramos, Martín Landaluce, Fernando Verdasco and Alejandro Davidovich. But that confidence soon turned into resignation, seeing that this time he would have little chance of surprising the number 1 in the world, a Carlos Alcaraz who is competing wonderfully these days in Miami and is now only three victories away from raising the title. title in Florida.

The Murcian continues to destroy all records of precociousness and, with his victory against Paul (6-4 and 6-4), he becomes the first tennis player in history who manages to get into the quarterfinals of a Masters 1000 six times over hard track before turning 20: Indian Wells 2022, Miami, 2022, Cincinnati, 2022, Paris-Bercy, 2022, Indian Wells 2023 and Miami 2023.

Alcaraz also comes a little closer to the ‘Sunshine Double’, a term that refers to the difficult fact of winning the Indian Wells and Miami tournaments in the same season. Only seven players have achieved this consecutive double in the history of the ATP tour. The first to do so was Jim Courier in 1991. He was followed by Michael Chang (1992), Pete Sampras (1994), Marcelo Ríos (1998), Andre Agassi (2001), Roger Federer (2005, 2006, 2017) and Novak Djokovic. (2011, 2014, 2015, 2016).

Beyond the records, Juan Carlos Ferrero’s pupil continues to focus on day-to-day life and is becoming more and more solvent on the track. This Tuesday, facing an extremely dangerous rival, Alcaraz once again combined quality, concentration and tactics to not give his opponent a single chance. He was far superior to the player born in El Palmar.

Sign with your serve

Paul had to play to the limit to keep the score level against the attacks from Murcia and in the end he gave up his serve in a game riddled with errors. Carlitos, for his part, only conceded one break opportunity in the entire game to Paul. He was very firm with his serve and tremendously ambitious in the rest. It is true that the Murcian got a little stuck to close the first set, but once again he threw his head and energy to know how to suffer and close the first set in the best way.

Released from all pressure, the best minutes of tennis in the match were seen in the second set, as Alcaraz began to leave shots from another planet and Paul, aware that the match had him lost, let go and never let go. He played the American with joy, but it is true that every time he tried to get on Alcaraz’s beards, the world number 1 punished him severely. Thus, with the Miami public having a great time despite the fact that the defeated was a compatriot, Alcaraz buttoned up the victory with a sensational last game. In the early hours of Wednesday to Thursday, at 2:30 a.m., he will seek a place in the semifinal against fellow American Tylor Fritz, number 10 in the world.

#Alcaraz #ends #Pauls #curse