Zapata beat Ramos and will seek the final against Norrie
MADRID, 25 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish tennis player Carlos agreed this Friday to the semifinals in the ATP 500 tournament in Rio de Janeiro by beating (6-4, 7-6 (0)) the Serbian Dusan Lajovic, while Bernabé Zapata also reached the penultimate round by taking the duel Spanish with Albert Ramos.
Alcaraz had to work hard again in his third victory this week on the Brazilian soil where he defends the title he won last year. The Murcian, in his second tournament of 2023 after winning in Buenos Aires on Sunday, will be measured for a place in the final in Rio with the Chilean Nicolás Jarry or the Argentine Sebastián Báez.
The number two in the world needed to warm up on the fly, against a rival that he had just beaten comfortably just in the Argentine capital, but once again he did not negotiate the effort or give a ball for lost. Lajovic scored the first income but Alcaraz reacted with four games in a row to add the set (6-4).
Despite looking underhanded, the Serb still put up a fight with deep shots and a damaging backhand. Thus, the man from El Palmar was again in tow for a ‘break’ in the fifth game, but he sought to repeat the script of the first set. The defending champion sweated to make it 3-4 but then he brought out a repertoire of rights and drop shots to put the direct. This time it was three games in a row (5-5), because Lajovic posed one last challenge to the Spaniard.
The Serbian came up and got a set ball, which Alcaraz saved in the net. With a lot of tension and carat exchanges, the Murcian forced a sudden death that made Lajovic kneel in the triumphant march of the young Spaniard in 2023.
Meanwhile, Zapata took another important step to link his second ATP semifinal (first 500), after the one in Buenos Aires that he lost to Alcaraz, with an intense two and a half hour duel against Ramos. The Valencian came back from a ‘break’ and took the first set, but the Catalan equalized the game with a solid 6-2 in the second.
However, Zapata saved the best for last, a third quarter that came up against the ‘break’ in the second game. Ramos, who did not get to lower his good level, had the option of him in the fifth and ended up breaking to get 4-4. The last blow to the rest was from the Valencian and he met the Englishman Cameron Norrie.