Decidedly, Carlos Alcaraz likes the air of the last four. Sixth tournament in 2023 (Buenos Aires, Rio, Indian Wells, Miami, Barcelona and Madrid), sixth qualification in the semi-finals for the 19-year-old Spanish prodigy, boss at the central Caja Magica this Wednesday afternoon against Karen Khachanov (6-4, 7-5) in the quarter-finals of the Madrid Masters 1000. His 117th victory in 150 matches on the professional circuit.
After an intense and balanced start (3-3 in 25 minutes), marked by exchanges in two or three strokes, Alcaraz suddenly changed gear in the seventh game of the first set. On the advice of his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, very talkative in the stands, the world No. 2 favored patience over violence in the first half hour.
He put more volume in his strikes and then more varied his trajectories and his zones. With a double objective: to lengthen the exchanges – there had been none with more than nine strikes so far – and to make the thick carcass of the big Russian guy run.
Alcaraz clears two double break points in the second set
This more “earthly” game immediately produced its effects: a rally of twelve strikes, concluded with a winning drop volley, then a winning cross forehand after another extended exchange gave him the first break of the part.
Confident after his success the day before against his compatriot Andrey Rublev, Khachanov obtained a break point in stride, but Alcaraz dismissed it with a service winner, an outside kick with a poisonous rebound, before pocketing the inning moments later on his third opportunity.
19
This is Carlos Alcaraz’s 19th consecutive win on Spanish clay.
The winner of the last US Open then experienced a slight slump, as it still happens to him sometimes (far too rarely for those he sends so often to the ropes). Four fouls, including several for lack of concentration, cost him his engagement at 2-1.
Khachanov, who seemed to imitate the tactics of the Finn Emil Ruusuvuori a few days earlier against the same opponent, namely to hit hard on the Spaniard’s forehand, even benefited from two double break points at 4-1, but Alcaraz, with a winning drop shot and a lethal long-line backhand, saved them.
Alcaraz registers five games in a row to conclude
One of the turning points of the meeting since at 5-3, 30-15 on the commitment of the Russian, who served to return to a set everywhere, the kid from Murcia chained three points of great class to unbreak: a winning cushioning magnificently in disguise, his fifth of the match, a forehand passing that blew Khachanov up at the net and a forehand acceleration followed by a drop volley winner.
Returning to height, Alcaraz benefited from a slight boost, that of the net – in his favor on a drop shot and against Khachanov on a forehand – to steal the Russian’s commitment for a second consecutive time before concluding the left a few moments later.
In the semi-finals, the defending champion in Madrid will face the winner of the duel to come, this Wednesday evening, between the German Daniel Altmaier and the Croatian Borna Coric.
2023-05-03 16:36:52
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