The Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz, number two in the world, defeated the Chilean Nicolás Jarry 6-7 (2), 7-5 and 6-0 this Saturday in the semifinals of the Rio de Janeiro Open and advanced to the final of the Brazilian tournament, in which the British Cameron Norrie will be measured on Sunday (not before 9:30 p.m.).
The final of the only ATP 500 tournament in South America will bring together the same two tennis players who played the final of the Argentina Open last Sunday: Alcaraz, who was champion in Brazil in 2022 and who won in Buenos Aires, and Norrie, number 13 in the ATP ranking and the second seed in Rio.
The 19-year-old tennis player from Murcia, first favorite in Brazil and current US Open champion, had to come back against Jarry (111 ATP) in a tough duel of two hours and 42 minutes in which he suffered in the first set and needed a massage in the second, which put him back on course for the title.
The Spaniard, who returned to the circuit last week after four months out due to injury and has already accumulated a title and a final, had never met the Chilean and felt the aggressive tennis of the 1.98-meter South American on his skin, who was also semifinalist at the 2018 Rio Open and 2019 tag team champion alongside Argentine Máximo González.
Jarry played his first semifinal of an ATP tournament in Rio since 2019 because it took him several months to return to the main circuit after the eleven-month suspension for doping that was imposed on him in January 2020.
With more aggressive and faster tennis than the world number two, Jarry surprised in the first set by breaking the Spaniard's first two serves and opening a 4-1 lead in just 25 minutes. The second set began more evenly and Alcaraz managed to win the set 7-5 and tie the game. The Spaniard maintained that momentum in the third set and, physically recovered, broke Jarry's three serves and confirmed his own to win the set uncontested 6-0 and the match 2-1.
Alcaraz, number 2 in the world, ruled out that he is getting ready to become the successor to the three tennis players who dominated and dominate the circuit in recent years: the Serbian Novak Djokovic, the Spanish Rafael Nadal and the Swiss Roger Federer.
"I don't think about taking over from anyone or being the player that people want to see after the Big 3. I just want to be who I am and keep doing what I've been doing, which is transmitting happiness to tennis, which is my way of being and I am not going to change it", assured
Alcaraz's rival in the final will be Norrie, who this Saturday beat Bernabé Zapata (63 ATP) in the semifinals 6-2, 3-6 and 7-6 (3), but who also ended up visibly exhausted after 2 hours and 29 minutes of a game that had to be decided in the tiebreak of the last sleeve.
The 27-year-old Briton and owner of four ATP titles was confirmed today as the tennis player with the highest number of victories in the current season, with 17 wins. Sunday's will be the fourteenth final of his career, the third this year.
