Carlos Alcaraz has already reached his first final on grass. The tennis player from Murcia overcame himself, and in his best match of the Queen's tournament, a prologue to Wimbledon, he reached the final after defeating the American Sebastian Korda 6-3 and 6-4 in an hour and twenty minutes of game In the final he will have to face the Australian Alex de Miñaur, who in the other semi-final defeated the Danish Holger Runer by 6-3 and 7-6. If he wins, the tennis player from Murcia would return to number one in the ATP ranking.
At only 20 years old, three years younger than his opponent tomorrow, it seems indubitable that the Murcian is the best of the next, the tennis players who have finally, now yes, begun to take over from the eternal Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovc and Roger Federer
The tennis player from El Palmar will not only fight today to become world number one again, but also to win his first title on grass. He accumulates 4,475 points, ahead of Daniïl Medvédev and only behind Novak Djokovic, with 4,745, thanks to the Australian Open and Roland Garros titles.
As expected, the match was not easy for Alcaraz against a tennis player – the son of Petr Korda – who played very well and who had reached the semi-final after eliminating the local Cameron Norrie.
The first set was very even and only really broke in the ninth game, when the Spaniard's second break came with a forehand that reached 148 km/h.
Unlike Friday's match against Dimitrov, the match started with Korda's break. Alcaraz equalized in the next game because Korda made three double faults and then the Murcian kept his serve blank. He made it 3-1, but Korda saved two break points in the next game. Both held serve with conflict, but Alcaraz did break his opponent's to make it 5-4 and serve, helping him take the first set 6-3.
The second hose also started presided over by equality. Alcaraz got the break in the third game to make it 2-1 and confirmed it without too much trouble in the next one. Both held serve, but the game was complicated for the American, because the Murcian was very firm with the first serves and Korda did not see a way to counter the break below him. With a 5-4, Alcaraz already had two match points with a 40-15. He missed the first, but not the second. He closed the match with a subtle forehand, on the first bot and from below, to catch the 22-year-old American and 32nd in the world, who will be 25th on Monday, his best place.
Whatever happens today, Alcaraz's season is already fantastic. With the semi-final at Queen's, he has already played eight in nine events, and it will be his sixth final of 2023, a season in which he has won four tournaments: Buenos Aires, Indian Wells, the Comte de Godó Trophy in Barcelona and the Mutual Madrid Open. And he lost the one in Rio de Janeiro because of an injury. Djokovic removed him from the fight for the trophy at Roland Garros in the semifinals and he could not be in the Australian Open due to the physical setback he suffered shortly before in a training session.
