There was no better gift for Carlos Alcaraz’s 20th birthday than accessing his second final of the Masters 1,000 in Madrid on a Manolo Santana track with the Murcian. The tennis player from El Palmar, who was blowing out the candles for the third time in a row on the clay of the Caja Mágica, sealed his most special day by beating Croatian Borna Coric in two sets (6-4 and 6-3).
The beginning of the game presaged that it would not be a walk for Alcaraz, but nothing could be further from the truth. Coric, whom he was facing for the first time, is a player who bases his game on solidity and making few mistakes. Unlike in previous matches, the Murcian had much more exchanges from the back of the track and the points were longer than, for example, against Zverev or Khachanov. Proof of this were the 12 minutes that the first game lasted with the Croatian serving. “It has been a match with more ‘rallies’ and with more intensity than the previous ones,” confirmed Alcaraz himself at the end of the match.
In the fifth game and as usual throughout the tournament, the first to unbalance the contest in his favor was Alcaraz. In an even match up to that point, the Murcian man managed to break the Croatian’s serve with a forehand whiplash. It also coincided with a moment in the game in which the Spaniard began to use the drop shot that he masters so well to break Coric’s rhythm, who was comfortable from the back of the court.
The man from El Palmar maintained that advantage achieved in the fourth game, showing all his arsenal of blows. He also added in the final stretch of the first set that serve-net that he handles perfectly and that surprised the Croatian. 1 hour and 2 minutes of the first set that reflected Alcaraz’s superiority against an inspired Coric, but even with those he could not beat the number two in the world.
Coric’s Barren Feint
Already in the second set, Alcaraz took advantage of two errors by Coric to snatch the serve and put the game uphill for the Croatian. However, the Zagreb player tried to hold on to the court as best he could and reacted in the next game with rights to the line to break the Spaniard’s serve.
Coric refused to ‘give’ the match to Alcaraz on his 20th birthday, but the Murcian wanted it to be a special match. He hit the table again, snatching the Croatian’s serve for the third time in a row, this time in white, to make it 3-2 in his favor. The stands on the Manolo Santana court roared with each point from Murcia, who knew how to solve each service turn and deal the final blow at 5-3, snatching the Croatian’s serve for the fourth time in the duel to close the final contest in 6 -4 and 6-3.
Another exhibition by Alcaraz in the Caja Mágica, although this one was more meritorious. There was no match against Alexander Zverev due to the extremely poor level of the German, but Borna Coric did raise a match with blows, although the Murcian knew how to handcuff him in an insultingly simple way for a player his age.
«I turned 18 against Rafa, 19 with Norrie and 20 here going to the final. Every year is special because you do it that way,” Alcaraz confessed, heading to the stands of the Caja Mágica after beating Coric in the semifinals of the Masters 1,000 in Madrid. Before, the organization of the tournament agreed to the Manolo Santana track with an impressive cake to celebrate the twentieth birthday of the Murcian as he already did in the last two tournaments.
“We knew it was going to be a war. I reminded myself like at the US Open that I am a bull and it has helped me », he also pointed out about the difficult match that the Croatian gave him. Victory number 28 for Alcaraz this season, for only two defeats (Cameron Norrie in Rio and Jannik Sinner in Miami). The man from El Palmar is just one step away from his 10th ATP title, his fourth Masters 1,000 and from reaching Roland Garros as number one in the world. An unforgettable day for Alcaraz.
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