You can rarely see Carlos Alcaraz angry on a tennis court. But his usual smile turned to anger this Thursday … in the long-suffering victory achieved in Doha against Karen Khachanov (6-7 (3), 6-4 and 6-3). And it was not precisely because of his rival, with whom he also maintains a good relationship, but because of the performance of the chair umpire, the Croatian Marija Cicak, who gave him a warning for taking a long time to serve after scoring one of the best points of the Qatari tournament, in which he now advances to the semifinals.
After reaching a very good drop shot by the Russian and certifying the point with a shot from behind, Alcaraz put his hand to his ear, received an ovation from the audience, again with Marco Verratti among them, as well as Rúben Amorim, former Manchester United player, and Julen Lopetegui, now Qatari soccer coach, and went to pick up the towel to wipe off the sweat. The Croatian judge understood that he used more time than he should have and gave him a ‘warning’, without direct consequences on the game, but that bothered Alcaraz, because it threatens the show and his health.
After a small argument with her and after signing up for the game, Alcaraz continued the heated conversation from his chair to finally address the tournament supervisor and say: “This is shit, shit, shit.” The Spaniard repeated it three times, who minutes later lost the first set in an impeccable tiebreaker by his rival and headed towards a comeback.
It was only the fourth set he had lost all year, but Alcaraz did not want to give up the beautiful 9-0 with which he started the year and he struggled to little by little dwarf a Khachanov who had never had such a good opportunity to get rid of the Murcian. In the five previous matches they had always lost and had barely been able to scratch a set. This time the Russian endured the battle well, left spectacular points and believed he had a chance until 2-2 in the third, when the Spanish champion applied the definitive sting and took down a Russian who already sees a painful 0-6 down in the ‘face to face’ with the Murcian.
100 extra points before the USA
In any case, this long-suffering victory puts Alcaraz in the Doha semifinals and allows him to improve last year’s result, when he was stopped in the quarterfinals. The 100 extra points on his scoreboard also ensure that he maintains the number one international ranking until, at least, the clay court tour that will begin in April in Monte Carlo. That is, he will be the first seed in his next two matches on American soil; first in Indian Wells, where he defends the semifinals, and then in Miami, where he lost in his debut, so he still has room for improvement.
With this push, in addition, Alcaraz will reach 66 weeks as number one – he currently has 59 – and will equal Jannik Sinner in twelfth place among tennis players at the top. The next historical ranking to overcome is that of Stefan Edberg, who was on the throne for 72 weeks.
To reach his second final of the year, Alcaraz will face Andrey Rublev this Friday, who beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3 and 7-6 (2). The Russian has only beaten Alcaraz once, in the Masters 1000 in Madrid in 2024, while the other four matches have been won by the Spaniard, who also has 28 consecutive wins in outdoor matches on cement. “I am proud to have continued fighting and to have taken advantage of my opportunities,” said the world number one after the tenth victory of the year.
