Carlos Alcaraz returns to the Umag final and climbs to four in the world

The Spaniard will fight this Sunday to defend his crown in Croatia after defeating the Italian Giulio Zeppieri

An uninspired afternoon, an uncomfortable rival and an ugly right ankle sprain. Against all battle Carlos Alcaraz to return to the final of the Umag Open. On paper, Giulio Zeppieri was number 168 in the world, but on Croatian clay he was a tough player who pushed the Murcian to the limit. So much so that he could only be stopped by a muscle injury in the third round, just after returning the two breaks that Alcaraz had taken. The Murcian needed almost three hours to win (7-5, 4-6, 6-3). But a year after winning the first ATP title of his career there, defending his crown against Jannik Sinner or Franco Agamenone.

There are days when everything flows, like the Friday before Facundo Bagnis. And others where he plays to break stone. And what a stone is Zeppieri (Rome, 2001). He may not be as precocious as his compatriots Sinner or Lorenzo Mussetti, nor aim as high as Alcaraz, but before falling he showed that he has the tennis to go much further than that 168th position he now occupies. A hard-hitting and ambitious tennis player, hard on the rest, who knew how to use against Alcaraz the doubts of him to the rest and even the speed that he prints on his balls.

It soon became clear that it would not be as peaceful an afternoon as against the Argentine. Not only because of Alcaraz’s problems in scoring his first serve (only 52% in the first set), but also because of Zeppieri’s aggressiveness, who took the initiative out of his hands. Ingredients for a tough match: in the 27 minutes it took to dispatch the first set against Bagnis, he was still fighting the fourth game against the Italian.

If there was anything harder than Zeppieri’s defense it was Alcaraz’s head, which poked and poked and poked at nothing that managed to open the smallest crack. Almost a quarter of an hour and four break balls were needed to break the Italian’s serve in the third game of the match. How many times do these partial double as a hit on the table, but not against the Roman, who had been paddling against the current since the previous phase. the disciple of John Charles Ferrero would still need a new tear to fasten the first sleeve.

Alcaraz scare, Zeppieri injury

For a few minutes the continuity of Carlos Alcaraz was in the air. The Murcian got his foot stuck when sliding towards the net to return a dropshot and suffered a severe sprain in his right ankle that made him call the physio. It is the same ankle that was sprained in Madrid against Rafa Nadal and that made him give up Rome to get to Roland Garros well. But if that doesn’t stop him from being crowned in the Spanish capital, even with Nadal, Djokovic and ZverevI was not going to do it against Zeppieri.

The Italian tested that ankle well. If he was already capable of moving the Murcian as few have managed this year, now he had more reasons to do so. Alcaraz responded well, but not to the level required by the Italian’s devastating right hands. Giulio! Giulio! Giulio!’, the crowd exploded as he collected his first set point in the second set. The fondness for Italians in Umag should not be surprising: for part of the last century the Istria region belonged to Italy and much earlier to the Republic of Venice.

For each flash of Alcaraz, Zeppieri had an answer. Even for the two breaks with which the Murcian opened the third set. He resisted with all the Italian tennis player, until at 3-3, when trying to return a rest, something broke in his right thigh. He smiles in his chair, aware that he has said goodbye, although he does not want to leave. Moving just enough, he held out on the track for Alcaraz to seal the victory. A victory to return to the Umag final and climb to number four in the world.