Carlos Alcaraz is already in his first final on grass. The Murcian tennis player outdid himself and in his best match of the Queen's tournament, a Wimbledon prologue, he reached the final by beating the American Sebastian Korda 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and twenty minutes of play. In the final he will have to deal with the Australian Alex de Minaur, who in the other semifinal beat the Danish Holger Runer 6-3, 7-6. If he wins, the Murcian tennis player would return to number 1 in the ATP ranking.
At only 20 years old, three less than his rival tomorrow, it seems unquestionable that the Murcian is the best of the next generation, 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 Daniil Medvedev and only behind Novak Djokovic, with 4,745, thanks to the Australian Open and Roland Garros crowns.
As expected, the match was not easy for Alcaraz against a tennis player –Petr Korda's son– who was playing very well and who had reached the semifinal by eliminating local Cameron Norrie.
The first set was very even and it was only really broken 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 began with a break from Korda. He equalized for Alcaraz in the next game because Korda hit three double faults and then the Murcian held his serve to love. He was able to get 3-1, but Korda saved two break points in the next game. Each one maintained their services with difficulties but Alcaraz did break his rival to get 5-4 and serve, which earned him to take the first set 6-3.
The second sleeve also began presided over by equality. Alcaraz achieved the break in the third game to get 2-1, and confirmed it without excessive problems in the next. Each one kept his serve, but the game had already become very uphill for the North American because the Murcian was very firm with his first serves and Korda did not see a way to counteract the break he had below him. . With 5-4 Alcaraz already had two match balls with 40-15. He missed the first, but not the second. He closed the game with a subtle touch with his right foot, early and from below, to catch the 22-year-old American off guard and 32nd in the world, who will be 25th on Monday, his best position.
Whatever happens today, Alcaraz's season is already fantastic. With Queen's he has played eight semifinals in nine events and it will be his sixth final of 2023, a course in which he has won four tournaments: Buenos Aires, Indian Wells, Godó in Barcelona and Madrid, and has lost the one in Rio de Janeiro due to injury. Djokovic separated him from the fight for the trophy at Roland Garros in the semifinals and could not be at the Australian Open due to the physical setback he suffered shortly before during training.
