With the cup of Beijing ATP 500 championsmiling, Carlos Alcaraz He thanked his team and his family, something usual, but this time he added that they had helped him a lot during the last two months in which he had a hard time, and they had told him “the things he didn’t want to hear.”
After the Paris Olympic Games, there was a small logical crisis due to the accumulation of sensations from the previous months, and the victory in the final against Jannik Sinner in the Chinese capital (6-7 (6/8), 6-4 and 7-6 (7/3)) can be considered the end of therapy.
In the Davis Cup and the Laver Cup Carlos regained his energy and desire and throughout the week in Beijing he has shown impressive tennis. Facing the number one in the world, with what it means because, although they get along very well, the sporting rivalry is there and generates a lot of expectation, and knowing how to survive the pressure that Sinner subjected him to, is proof that that episode of end of August and September is already forgotten.
Alcaraz defeats Sinner for the third time this year
The tenth episode of the Alcaraz-Sinner did not disappoint. He left after three hours and 20 minutes and the two tennis players had their options. The first, the Spaniard, who started the duel as if whoever was in front was not his great opponent.
He dominated him as he had done with everyone else, but when it came time to close the set with his serve he encountered the reaction of the number one. Jannik not only recovered the break of disadvantage when he was at the limit, he was also able to advance three set points, two of them in a tie break in which he went from 6-4 to 6-8.
The only blemish for both players was that they could serve better. Alcaraz was joined by a common one: the lack of efficiency on break balls. He had 15 in the entire match and only made three. Losing a set in which he had been so superior was a blow for the Murcian, who lost his spark.
The key moment for him was at 3-4 and his serve in the second set. That game lasted 15 minutes and the Spaniard had to save two breaking balls that smelled like goodbye. The first was with a direct serve at 216 kilometers per hour, and the second with one to the body at 209 that the Italian touched, but did not have time to completely move away.
In those delicate moments, Juan Carlos Ferrero’s pupil served as never before in the duel, although he later missed some right hand. Conquering that game was a turning point. He added three in a row and took the duel to the final set, with both players already at full capacity.
It was once again the Spaniard who took the break lead and Sinner who came from behind, coming back. History seemed to repeat itself, and the decisive tiebreaker began with a 3-0 for Jannik that sent him straight to victory. But Alcaraz’s final reaction was crack.
With two bright points he closed the gap and made his opponent think too much, who added some errors. The Murcian had the decision to go to the net and look for winners from the right. There were seven consecutive points that led him to defeat Sinner for the third of three this season.