Carlos Alcaraz knocks down Cilic and stands in the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Masters 1000

The young tennis player from Murcia, Carlos Alcaraz, defeated the Croatian Marin Cilic in two sets in the early hours of Thursday and reached the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Masters 1000. Alcaraz, number four in the world ranking, beat veteran Cilic (17th) 7-6 (7/4) and 6-1 in one hour and 40 minutes of play.

Alcaraz, one of the great jewels of world tennis at 19 years old, will fight in the quarterfinals against Britain’s Cameron Norrie on his way to his coveted third Masters 1000 title of the season. Against Cilic, 33 years old and winner in Cincinnati in 2016, Alcaraz displayed his inexhaustible repertoire of powerful forehands and exquisite drop shots and emerged victorious from a disconnection that forced him to reach the tiebreak to win the first set.

The one from El Palmar, with a 5-4 advantage and serve, enjoyed two balls to seal the sleeve but ended up conceding the break to Cilic committing three consecutive double faults. Alcaraz did not despair against the experienced Cilic, champion of the US Open in 2014, and quickly put the tiebreak on track with a distance of 4-0 to avoid frights.

In the second set, Cilic, 1.98m tall, was running out of power to dictate the exchanges and Alcaraz took advantage of it to break his serve on the first occasion. In the third game, the Croatian burned his last cartridges with two break balls that Alcaraz knew how to neutralize in an eight-minute game.

Under the gaze of his coach, former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero, Alcaraz continued to show himself as a strong candidate to win his fifth title in 2022, after those won in Rio de Janeiro, Barcelona and the Masters 1000 in Miami and Madrid.