Sublime Carlos Alcaraz Overcomes Stefanos Tsitsipas In Miami Classic | ATP tour

Sublime Carlos Alcaraz Overcomes Stefanos Tsitsipas In Miami Classic | ATP tour

A capacity Grandstand crowd was treated to one of the matches of the season as Carlos Alcaraz battled past Stefanos Tsitsipas, 7-5, 6-3, Tuesday night at the Miami Open presented by Itau.

In a rematch of their five-set epic at the US Open, the second installation of this budding ATP Head2Head rivalry exceeded the considerable hype with another instant classic. The same could be said for the 18-year-old Alcaraz, who has managed to overdeliver in the face of sky-high expectations early in his career, this fourth-round performance just his latest tour de force.

The Spaniard, who improved to 15-2 on the season with the win, is now one win from back-to-back ATP Masters 1000 semi-finals after reaching that stage for the first time at that level in Indian Wells.

After surrendering an early break to a motivated Tsitsipas, Alcaraz took charge of the match by winning seven straight games from 2-5 down in the first. He reached an otherworldly level in doing so, leaving the third seed perplexed as he mixed in perfectly weighted lobs and drop shots with his usual brand of bruising baseline tennis — the kind that prompted Tsitsipas to say he had “never seen someone hit the ball so hard” following their New York meeting.

Out for revenge, Tsitsipas was locked in early as he created the first five break points of the match, converting on the fifth for a 4-2 lead. The match was of sublime quality from the start, and it produced a point-of-the-year contender in the third game as Alcaraz’s tweener lob was returned by another tweener from Tsitsipas, the Spaniard finishing off the exchange with a volley winner.

Once Tsitsipas broke for 4-2, the match began to tilt in Alcaraz’s favour. The Greek fought off four break points to consolidate for 5-2, but then lost his next three service games as his opponent sustained an immaculate level to take the opening set and surge ahead in the second.

Everything was working for the Spaniard, who suddenly had his opponent chasing shadows. On the rare occasions Tsitsipas was able to attack, Alcaraz flashed his world-class defense and speed to further frustrate the World No. 5.

Alcaraz’s domination in that seven-game stretch, combined with an apparent sense of bewilderment from Tsitsipas, was so comprehensive that a comeback seemed out of the question.

But to his immense credit, Tsitsipas created three break points across two service games. After playing so solidly to bring up those chances, he let Alcaraz off the hook with a few untimely errors. It was perhaps the first time on the night Tsitsipas could truly find fault with himself, with Alcaraz taking the match out of his hands in the previous period.

On his fourth match point, Alcaraz wrapped up the win in fitting fashion, following up more heavy hitting with another drop shot winner.

More to follow…

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