US Open
The Spaniard will play on Sunday to win his first Grand Slam and get world number one
There are people made to achieve historical milestones and Carlos Alcaraz is one of them. A man capable of not giving up after winning three matches in five consecutive sets, after being on the court for more than 14 hours in six days and after losing a match point in the fourth set. Alcaraz did not collapse, who beat Frances Tiafoe at midnight in New York (6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-1, 6-7 (5) and 6-3) and this Sunday (10:00 p.m. Spanish time) will play his first Grand Slam final at the US Open and will fight for world number one.
The one in El Palmar will be played against Casper Ruud, who defeated Karen Khachanov, becoming the youngest number one in history, at 19 years and 5 months, beating Lleyton Hewitt’s record.
You’re one win away from getting it all. To finally fulfill that prediction he made after his magical spring in which he won four titles before Roland Garros and in which he claimed to be “prepared” to win his first Grand. The label was great for him in Paris and London, but not in New York, where he has become a regular at the epic and the show at night.
What happened this Saturday against Tiafoe is another example of the Murcian’s resilience and character, impassive and intractable in the greatest moments of tension. Alcaraz missed the first set for nothing, after saving a point to lose it and come back from 6-3 against in the ‘tie break’, the Spaniard let a partial escape in which Tiafoe hit the key of what he had to do: do not give rhythm to the Spanish with short and fast points.
As soon as the point lengthened, it was the Spaniard who had the advantage, and along the way he left a point to remember, like the one he achieved at 6-5 to secure the tiebreaker; one of the points of the tournament.
Alcaraz’s strategy began to work once down on the scoreboard and the second and third sets were much more pleasant, with no lost serves and a payroll of just seven unforced errors.
Tiafoe sold his defeat dearly
The game seemed won, ready for sentence. Juan Carlos Ferrero’s pupil was always ahead in the fourth set, with the public divided between his spectacle and that of his player, a Tiafoe example of the American dream. Alcaraz had serves for 3-0 and 4-1, but the one from Maryland always found a way not to detach himself and not fall. When the Spaniard squandered a match point and led 5-4 in the tie break, he feared the worst. That he suffered a shock similar to the one he knocked out Jannik Sinner in the semifinals. A mental blow too big for the youth and precocity of the kid from Murcia.
Quite the contrary. Alcaraz started the fifth set as if nothing had happened. He suffered a little setback, but did not hesitate. On the fourth match point, he dropped the victory and the weight of it on the concrete of Flushing Meadows.
Youngest finalist of the US Open since Pete Sampras in 1990 and of a Grand Slam since Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros 2005. Both ended up conquering the tournament. He will be the fifth Spaniard to play a final in New York, after Manolo Santana, Manolo Orantes, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Rafael Nadal. Only Ferrero did not get the victory.
This Sunday (22:00 Spanish time), he will play for the title against another rookie in the US Open finals, the Norwegian Casper Ruud, who defeated Karen Khachanov (7-6 (5), 6-2, 5-7 and 6-2). Not only the first Grand Slam of both will be at stake, but also the number one in the world. If Alcaraz achieves it, he will be the youngest in history, overthrowing Lleyton Hewitt, who achieved it in November 2001 at 20 years and 8 months.
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