Tennis
The Murcian defeats a surprising rival in a match with two ‘tie-breaks’ (6-7, 6-3, 7-6)
After two hours and twenty-three minutes of play, Carlos Alcaraz managed to get the entire center court of Miami up and, in a heart-stopping second tie-break, achieve victory (6-7, 6-3, 7-6) against a great Miomir Kecmanovic, in one of the most balanced duels of the tournament, and get into the semifinal of the Miami Masters 1000. The Murcian faced the duel as virtual number 15 in the world and, thanks to the great match turned into a victory, he is one step away from placing himself as the thirteenth player in the ATP ranking. Carlos Alcaraz will face the Polish Hubert Hurkacz, current champion of the tournament, in the semifinals.
Despite not having his best day, Alcaraz knew how to maintain his composure and, through a splendid positive self-demand, dominated his mind so as not to leave the match and alleviate the great form in which he found his rival. The first set showed both sides of the coin of the young tennis player from El Palmar. It started with a Kecmanovic who made Alcaraz taste his own medicine and commanded the match in the early stages. The world number 43 provoked in Alcaraz a hasty and tense game that led him to make mistakes to get, very soon, 0-3 down.
A ray of light appeared in the second serve of the Murcian who, with mastery and elegance, managed to make his first point, but it was of little use, since Kecmanovic continued to do his thing. With a 1-4 deficit, Alcaraz worked and found the key to face the overwhelming Serbian and, in three games, managed to equalize the contest and go 4-4. After not conceding any ‘break’ ball, both players reached the ‘tie-break’, where luck fell on the Serbian side after two service losses by Alcaraz with a 5-4 in favor. Kecmanovic broke Carlos’s streak, thus losing his first set of the tournament.
Another Carlos Alcaraz came out to play in the second round. And the set was his from start to finish. In just 37 minutes he managed to resolve the doubts about his game and turned the game upside down. With three games in a row, the Murcian put on a comfortable assault in which he only had problems at the end of it, where he dissipated an opportunity to lose serve on two occasions with the 5-3 in favor. In many moments of the match, it was impossible not to think about the similarity they shared with their compatriots and teachers Nadal and Djokovic.
After an hour and a half of play, everything seemed to indicate that both players were going to lead the final stretch of the match with one gear less due to both physical and mental fatigue. But it was not like that. To the amazement of the fans, both Kecmanovic and, above all, Carlos Alcaraz were able to keep up the pace and even add quality to the bellows and the strength of their blows.
It was a daring and hard set at times where they barely failed. A very balanced last set where they had no decisive failures in their serves and, with this, they won all their services until, once again, reaching the ‘tie-break’. But this one had an opposite outcome and, this time yes, the Serb succumbed and Alcaraz achieved his sixteenth victory of the season in a heart-stopping finish. When Carlos lost 3-5 and Kecmanovic still had a serve left, the Murcian took out the champion gene, of which only the greatest have the privilege, and came back ‘in extremis’ from a completely adverse result.
Carlos Alcaraz will face off in the semi-final against Pole Hubert Hurkacz, number 10 in the ranking and champion in Miami last year. The game will be played from 1:00 am on Saturday morning. Hurkacz enters the match after eliminating the great favorite of the tournament, Daniil Medvedev.
#Carlos #Alcaraz #Kecmanovic #suffering #semifinals #Miami