The Spanish Carlos Alcaraz touched a miracle this Friday in Cincinnati, when he came back from 7-6 and 4-1 adverse in the second set, but ended up succumbing 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4) and 6-4 against the British Cameron Norrie and said goodbye to the Cincinnati tournament in the quarterfinals.
With a fantastic reaction, Alcaraz had forced the third set and had broken a lead to escape 3-1, but ended up surrendering for the first time in four duels against the Briton after a battle of three hours and four minutes.
Despite the defeat, Alcaraz left the central court of the Lindner Family Tennis Center applauded by the local public, which he delighted with a spectacular high-level match, in which he lacked the lucidity to complete the comeback.
It is the fourth defeat of the season in the Masters 1,000 for Alcaraz, with 17 victories that allowed him to be crowned in Miami and Madrid and become the only player capable of winning more than one tournament in this category in 2022.
Norrie, number 11 in the world, advanced to the second semifinal of his career and will fight this Saturday for the final against Croatian Borna Coric.
Alcaraz got off to a positive start, keeping his serve to nil and getting four break balls in Norrie's first two serving times, without being able to take advantage of them.
The Murcian played good tennis, with excellent volleys and drop shots, but his match was complicated in the first set tiebreak, when Norrie increased his aggressiveness and managed to quickly escape 3-0 and, after Alcaraz's reaction, until it was 3-3 , managed to win the first quarter 7-4.
A set was leaving him in which he wasted many opportunities to take advantage and Alcaraz paid for it on a psychological level. He was tempted to throw his racket to the ground, though he managed to restrain himself, but his gestures showed his frustration.
As if that were not enough, he failed to make the three break balls he built in the first game of the second set.
Without a doubt, the loud noise of the fireworks that are launched every Friday at 10:00 p.m. local time in a nearby amusement park did not help the concentration of both players.
The Murcian paid for his moment of confusion and Norrie took advantage of it to achieve the break in the fourth game that opened the way for a 4-1 that left Alcaraz on the ropes.
With no room for error, he took out his competitive soul and, after the break, recovered the break and got back into the game with a reaction that caused the audience to applaud.
Gradually Alcaraz increased the level of his shots and regained sensation by taking a wonderful 7-4 tiebreaker to level the match.
He continued to delight the spectators with points of the highest athletic and technical level, such as the one that allowed him to come out of a delicate 40-40 with 1-1 in the light.
And it grew until it sealed, in the fourth game, with a powerful forehand against Norrie's second serve, the break that made it 3-1 and seemed to open the way to the semifinals.
However, he went to serve immediately after and failed to do so with maximum concentration, an error that Norrie punished with a 'break' that once again changed the inertia of the match.
Alcaraz began to pay the pressure and, despite coming back from 0-40 with 4-4 in the light, he ended up delivering his service again, this time definitively.
Norrie did not fail with his serve and sentenced the duel with a 6-4.
At that moment, Alcaraz was frustrated, throwing a ball out of the central court and receiving the first sanction from the judge.
In this way the Murcian tournament ended, ten days before the start of the United States Open.
The other semifinal will be played by the Russian Daniil Medvedev, number 1 in the world, and the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, who beat the Americans Taylor Fritz and John Isner.
