MADRID, 7 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz qualified with solvency this Wednesday for the semifinals of the United States Open, fourth and last ‘Grand Slam’ of the season and that is played on a hard court, after getting rid of the German Alexander Zverev with fewer complications of those scheduled in three sets (6-3, 6-2, 6-4).
The Murcian is again at the gates of a new final of a ‘big’ and two games away from defending his title in New York and winning his third ‘Grand Slam’. True to his tradition this season, he did not fail his appointment with the semifinals (eleventh in 13 tournaments), where he will now have another tough obstacle in the figure of Russian Daniil Medvedev, champion in 2021 and very dangerous on this surface.
A great ‘battle’ was expected in the Arthur Ashe between the man from El Palmar and the man from Hamburg, but in the end it was not like that because the still number one in the world was very solid and, above all, he knew how to take advantage of his options to the rest to disarming a Zverev who also seemed to weigh on the tough round of 16 match against the Italian Jannik Sinner.
Despite the victory, Alcaraz was once again more erratic than usual. His best weapon, his powerful drive, did not work as usual, with 18 unforced errors with this shot, out of a total of 34 he made, for the 29 winners. The German was not good either (35 for 22) nor did he know how to find his two-handed backhand or his right, and he was also weighed down by his inability to achieve a ‘break’, wasting the five breaking balls of which he enjoyed
The Spaniard, on the other hand, did not forgive and that allowed him to dominate a duel more calmly that, despite its night time, was also marked by the suffocating heat and humidity of these days in New York. For this reason, the two and a half hours that he was on the track were good news to reserve energy for what lies ahead.
The match began balanced and with both players maintaining their service without giving break balls to their rival. Zverev had the first two with 3-3 and did not take advantage of them, and when it seemed that Zverev would tie his serve in the next one, the best version of the Murcian appeared to end up breaking and later close the first set.
The current champion gained more confidence and signed a good second set, the only one of the match in which he signed more winners (11) than unforced errors (9) and without conceding break options, with which he put his victory on track. He broke in the fourth game and that made a dent in the Hamburger, with less ‘sparkle’ on the court and already heading for an epic comeback.
The German, runner-up in 2020 in New York and current Olympic champion, requested a medical timeout and Alcaraz suffered a small disconnection that this time, unlike against Dan Evans and Matteo Arnaldi in his two previous matches, it was not difficult for him to go behind. The Spaniard had to save ‘break’ balls in his first two services, including a 15-40, so as not to complicate his life.
Zverev held his serve, but could not with the acceleration of the Murcian in the decisive bars. With 4-4, Alcaraz was implacable to the rest to achieve the key break and sentence his pass to the semifinals with his service, the third this year in ‘Grand Slam’, where Daniil Medvedev awaits him, who beat the heat and his compatriot Andrey Rublev in three sets (6-4, 6-3, 6-4), after trailing behind on the scoreboard in all of them.