The Spanish Carlos Alcaraz fell this Friday 6-7(4), 6-4 and 6-2 in the semifinals of the Masters 1,000 in Miami against the Italian Jannik Sinner, who will play the final against the Russian Daniil Medvedev, and lost the number one of the world ranking in favor of the Serbian Novak Djokovic.
Sinner will fight on Sunday against Medvedev for the first Masters 1,000 of his career, after defeating Alcaraz, current champion, in a memorable match that lasted three hours and one minute.
It was a match of a very high level, with advantages for the Italian and comebacks by the Spanish. A clash between two friends, with the utmost respect between them and with tremendous demand. It is the second defeat for Carlos Alcaraz this season and adds to the one in the final in Rio. It was the sixth duel between the two, which ends with three victories for each one.
The Murcian needed to revalidate the title to maintain a number one that will once again be owned by Novak Djokovic from Monday.
With a winning serve and an unforced error from Alcaraz, Sinner sealed his first service in five minutes of maximum demand for both. The Murcian also tied his own, and the start of the game already made us think that the night would be long at the Hard Rock Stadium.
The rest of Sinner was brilliant, responding to absolutely everything, and had his reflection in the fourth game when he had two break balls. He saved the first Alcaraz but not the second, and the Murcian faced his first great difficulty in the entire tournament.
The game forced a script change in the game strategy for Alcaraz, but he failed to recover good feelings, in just 23 minutes the semifinal was very uphill with the 4-1 for the Italian and demanded a reaction.
With Sinner at the service, an image for history was left, a rally of up to 25 strokes that the Italian won. It was followed by a double fault from the Italian who gave two break balls to Alcaraz. She went to the second, with a ball into the net, when he recovered the break, and the first set was balanced again at 4-3.
Alcaraz knew how to change the game script, that capacity that only the best have, and the Murcian changed heights, speeds, achieving forty equals on the scoreboard and taking the psychological battle. Sinner was left without answers.
Alcaraz broke again and turned the set around, but Sinner caused the tie-break in an exciting twelfth game, with up to four break points for him, and also several set points for the Spaniard, in a battle of more than nine minutes.
Alcaraz repeated the same thing in the tiebreaker as in the set, being down on the scoreboard and turning it around to bag the first set 7-4 in one hour and 17 minutes. The last point was made with an ace that put the stadium on its feet.
Sinner knew how to turn the page quickly, he started the second set breaking his rival's serve and securing his serve. A quick 2-0 in his favor, showing himself very solid to the rest as well. It was followed by a partial three games in a row by Alcaraz to come back and get 3-2. The spectacle and equality were maximum. But Sinner's feelings were better.
Physical problems appeared in the Miami center, Sinner touched his left leg and Alcaraz asked for assistance during the break for his hand. It did not prevent the continuity of the match. The Italian was relentless to take the second set 6-4, reminding him of the great version of him against Alcaraz at Wimbledon in July 2022.
Alcaraz took ten minutes off the track, and the wait did not leave Sinner cold. The Italian opened the last and definitive set breaking the Murcian, who left several balls in the net and did not seem well physically.
He took out his service in the third game despite the cramps, Sinner's two days of rest compared to Alcaraz's less than 24-hour recovery were reflected in the Murcian's legs.
Shooting from the heart and hitting from the bottom, he was able to continue adding Alcaraz on his serve. He even forced a forty-all in the sixth, but that game fell to the Italian side to make it 4-2.
Two double faults by Alcaraz with forty equals deprived him of having options again, with the 5-2 Sinner leaving the game almost sentenced in his favor. He finished it off in the next game with service and sealing the final 6-2.
No one wanted to miss the match between Alcaraz and Sinner, two NBA stars like Jimmy Butler and Luka Doncic sat in the front row, who will face each other this Saturday at the Heat-Mavs but on Friday night they enjoyed the great spectacle of the Miami Open.
