The Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraznumber two in the world beat 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 will face British Cameron Norrie on Sunday. 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. In Rio he had to play the qualifier to register in the main group but had a good performance and eliminated Argentine Sebastián Báez (35 ATP), sixth favorite, and Italian Lorenzo Musetti, number 21 in the ATP and third seed, in the quarterfinals.
Alcaraz’s rival in the final will be Norrie, who this Saturday beat Bernabé Zapata in the semifinals 6-2, 3-6 and 7-6 (3) (63 ATP), but who also ended up visibly exhausted after 2 hours and 29 minutes of a match that had to be decided in the tiebreak of the last round. 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.
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. Alcaraz only began to recover from the sixth game, confirmed two services and broke two of the Chilean to level the game at 6-6 and force a tiebreaker. But the 27-year-old tennis player from Santiago was more effective in the tiebreak, which he won 7-2 to win the set 7-6.
The second set began more evenly and the equality remained until 5-5, when Alcaraz, who received a quick massage on the bench after complaining of discomfort, reacted, quickly confirmed his last serve and broke the Chilean’s in the last game, to win the sleeve 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.
The ATP 500 in Rio de Janeiro, which takes place until Sunday on the clay courts of the Jockey Club Brasileiro and distributes prizes of 2.2 million dollars, is part of the tour on clay in South America, which began with the Cordoba Open and the Argentina Open, and concludes next week with the ATP 250 in Santiago (Chile).
