Carlos Alcaraz Takes Home Silver in Men’s Singles Tennis at 2024 Paris Games

Posted on August 4, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a silver lining for Carlos Alcaraz…

Despite his loss in the men’s singles final to Novak Djokovic in the men’s singles tennis final on Sunday, the 21-year-old Spanish tennis star claimed the silver medal at the 2024 Paris Games.

Alcaraz, who was gunning to become the youngest men’s tennis Olympic champion in his Olympic debut, lost a close match in straight sets, with both decided by a tiebreaker.

In the end, Alcaraz lost 6-7 (3), 6-7 (2).

Despite his disappointment at his defeat on Court Philippe-Chatrier, the Olympic flame inside the Spaniard remains well and truly alight.

“I always want to win, that’s for sure, but taking the silver medal, I have to be really proud,” said Alcaraz in post-match comments made to NBC. “I’m building a really great career and I hope it’s going to keep going.

“Honestly, I’m pretty proud to be in this position, I’m pretty proud to bring a medal to Spain. I’m pretty sure that my moment will come, and I will bring the gold medal to Spain one day. So I’m going to wait for that moment and I’m going to work for that moment, but right now I have to enjoy lifting the silver medal, it’s pretty amazing as well.”

Alcaraz has good reason to feel confident about the future. Sunday’s loss was a rare low moment in what has otherwise been a largely stellar year for the Spaniard.

He lifted his third and fourth major titles at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, respectively, while he also lifted his fifth ATP Masters 1000 crown in Indian Wells in March.

The No. 3 in the ATP Rankings also knows how close he was to Djokovic in Sunday’s high-level encounter.

Alcaraz forced the Serbian to fend off eight break points en route to victory, and he’ll leave Paris satisfied he gave his all in pursuit of Olympic glory.

‘It is painful to lose the way that I lost this match. I had my opportunities… I couldn’t take them,” said Alcaraz. “Novak is playing great, he really settled in his position, in the difficult moments he increased his level, he played unbelievable. I’m really disappointed but honestly, I’m going to leave the court with my head really high. I gave everything that I had fighting for Spain, it was everything to me so I’m proud the way that I played today.”

The next few months also promise plenty for Alcaraz, who is currently 38-7 for the season and second in the ATP Live Race To Turin. He’s next set to compete at the Cincinnati Open later this month, when he’ll resume his pursuit of rival and current Live Race leader Jannik Sinner. Alcaraz is bidding to finish the season as ATP Year-End No. 1 for the second time.

Carlos Alcaraz ThisClose to Becoming Youngest Olympic Tennis Singles Champion

Posted on August 2, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Carlos Alcaraz is one win away from Olympic tennis history…

The 21-year-old Spanish tennis star beat Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime soundly, 6-1, 6-1, in the semifinals of the 2024 Paris Games on Friday to come within one win of becoming the youngest man to win an Olympic tennis singles gold medal.

Alcaraz owns four Grand Slam titles, including a French Open title he won in June at Roland Garros, the clay-court facility being used for tennis at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

He’s about a month younger than Vincent Richards of the U.S. was when he claimed the gold in the 1924 Paris Games.

With dozens of spectators waving red-and-yellow Spanish flags at Court Philippe Chatrier or yelling “Vamos, Carlos!” on a cloudy afternoon — and a soundtrack provided during breaks in the action by a brass band in the stands — Alcaraz was dominant and never faced a break point.

He won the point on 10 of 11 trips to the net. He made just 13 unforced errors, 10 fewer than Auger-Aliassime, who also lost to Alcaraz at this year’s French Open.

“I just couldn’t find a way to be comfortable in any pattern, any position. Whether it was trying to dominate the forehand cross-court or change of direction, the forehand inside-out, the backhand side,” Auger-Aliassime said. “Every aspect. The movement. The defense. I was dominated.”

Auger-Aliassime is a 23-year-old Canadian whose best showing at a major tournament was a semifinal appearance at the 2021 US Open. Auger-Aliassime made it to that round back then when Alcaraz, just 18 at the time, stopped playing in the second set of their quarterfinal because of an injured leg muscle.

“He’s improved a lot, every time we’ve played,” said Auger-Aliassime, who beat Alcaraz in each of their first three head-to-head contests but now has lost the four since, all in straight sets. “I don’t have the solutions right now.”

The Alcaraz on display during his Olympics debut is a much more finished product, someone who has won 12 consecutive matches at Roland Garros and collected a second consecutive title at Wimbledon last month, too.

Alcaraz defeated 24-time Slam champion Novak Djokovic in both of those finals at the All England Club, and they’ll have a rematch for the men’s gold on Sunday after Djokovic, a 37-year-old from Serbia, defeated Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti in the second Olympic semifinal.

Carlos Alcaraz Defeats Tommy Paul to Reach Wimbledon Semifinals

Posted on July 9, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Carlos Alcaraz is one step closer to a repeat…

The 21-year-old Spanish tennis star and defending Wimbledon champion took a little time to rev his engines in his quarterfinal, but once he did, there was no stopping him during a 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 victory over No. 12 Tommy Paul.

Coming off a title at the French Open last month , Alcaraz is seeking his fourth Grand Slam trophy.

For a set and a bit, Paul, the American who won the title at Queen’s Club last month, matched and even had the better of Alcaraz.

But like those select few who’ve been able to live with Rafael Nadal for a while only to fall away under the weight of the physical and mental contest, the sheer effort of keeping pace with the world No 3 proved to be too much.

Gaining strength with each set, Alcaraz pulled away the win and a place in the semifinals.

The third seed finished with 36 winners, 19 of them on his forehand, the niggling forearm injury that dogged him for much of the first part of this year no longer a factor.

Paul saved 19 of 27 break points but under the intense pressure coming from the other side, 52 forced errors and 51 unforced errors were too much to get the job done and Alcaraz moved a step closer to claiming back-to-back slams.

“He has been playing great tennis on grass, he won Queen’s, he’s been doing great stuff and today was a really difficult match for me,” Alcaraz said. “The first set and the beginning of the second set it was kind of like I was playing on clay, big rallies, 10 or 15 shots every rally. I had to stay strong mentally but I knew it was a really long journey and a really long match and I’m happy I was able to find the solutions.”

Alcaraz will take on Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals for the second consecutive year.

Alex de Minaur Defeats Arthur Fils to Reach First-Ever Wimbledon Quarterfinal

Posted on July 8, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Alex de Minaur has advanced to the last eight for the first time at Wimbledon…

Two years after blowing a two-set lead and two match points when on the brink of reaching the quarterfinals, the 25-year-old Spanish & Uruguayan Australian tennis player held his nerve as a horror repeat threatened against Arthur Fils.

de Minaur put his fans on No.1 Court – and late night television viewers back home – through the wringer as he dropped the third set, but showed Aussie grit to take the fourth on his second match point.

His 6-2 6-4 4-6 6-3 win, in just shy of three hours, booked a last eight meeting with Novak Djokovic.

The concern now is whether he’ll be fully fit for that challenge having appeared to pull up lame as he played an angled stop volley to win the match, but he said on court: “I’ll be alright. I’ll find a way.”

He later clarified he had “jarred” his hip playing the forehand that set up the winner and it was “a little bit ‘ginger,'” but added, “it’s probably a little bit of a scare more than anything.

“I’m feeling pretty decent. I’ve done my recovery. I’m sure I’ll be feeling great tomorrow.”

“I’m super proud of myself to be in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon,” added the ninth-seeded Australian. “You can count on me going out there, trying my hardest and playing my heart out.”

Asked what pleased him most about his performance de Minaur said: “Getting over the finish line, a great job mentally to get through.”

The quarterfinal will be only his third in a Grand Slam, but also his second in succession after reaching the same stage at Roland Garros last month.

The Australian No.1 looked set to continue his sprint through the Wimbledon field when he raced to a two-set lead in barely an hour, and followed up with an early break in the third.

But from 4-2 up the de Minaur tightened up and lost four successive games, and the set.

Inevitably the nightmare of 2022 resurfaced. Then de Minaur blew a two-set lead against another unseeded player, Chilean Cristian Garin, and two match points in the fifth.

This time it was different.

In the fourth set de Minaur broke immediately, saved serve at 0-40 in the fourth game, then broke again to lead 4-1.

It was the first of five successive breaks of serve, but his French opponent could no hold serve either.

“I definitely made it a lot harder than I should have, I couldn’t hold my serve (at the end), but I backed my returns,” said de Minaur.

Fils had upset de Minaur earlier this year on the red clay of Barcelona, winning 7-5 6-2 in 95 minutes, but the green grass of Wimbledon was a different matter.

de Minaur came out aggressively, pouncing on a short return to set up three break points in the opening game. Under pressure his 20-year-old opponent, betraying a few nerves, double-faulted.

A smart line-call challenge at deuce in the third game led to another break and within a quarter-hour it was 4-0 to de Minaur, who had won 18 of the opening 22 points.

Fils finally got on the scoreboard when he held his serve at the third attempt. This was enthusiastically cheered by a No.1 showcourt crowd who were hoping to see a contest.

But de Minaur held firm to take the set in 29 minutes.

Fils had shown his mettle with a 131mph second serve ace at 2-5, and backed this up by taking a 3-0 second set lead as de Minaur’s game dipped. But the Australian bounced back, taking five successive games to establish a stranglehold on the set, before serving out.

An early break in the third put de Minaur in the box seat, but as victory loomed it seemed the pressure pendulum had swung back on him and Fils took advantage. Finally the crowd had a contest. To de Minaur’s huge relief, he won it.

Paula Badosa Rallies to Upset Daria Kasatkina & Reach Third Round at Wimbledon

Posted on July 5, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Paula Badosa has pulled off a special upset…

The 26-year-old Spanish professional tennis player rallied from a break down in the final set to snap Daria Kasatkina‘s seven-match win streak and advance to the Round of 16 at Wimbledon.

The former World No.2 came back from 4-2 down in the third set to win 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-4 in 2 hours and 51 minutes.

“I know it’s not my first time in the second week of a Grand Slam,” Badosa said on court, “but for me it’s a special one because a few months ago I didn’t know if I could play tennis anymore. So to be here is very special.”

Badosa did not hold back tears after the hard-fought win, which put her into Wimbledon’s second week for the third time in her career and first since the debilitating back injury that has plagued her since the start of 2023. It was the same stress fracture that forced her retirement from Wimbledon 12 months ago and shut down the remainder of her season.

Badosa choked back the tears as the crowd gave her a rousing ovation for her efforts.

“One of the reasons I come back on the court is for you guys,” Badosa told the crowd. “Hearing my name and cheering for me, it’s really for you guys. I really feel the love.”

Badosa returned to competition in January but the struggles were evident. In the first four months of the year, she won back-to-back matches just once, exacerbated by three in-match retirements.

“In Indian Wells, the doctors told me it would be very complicated to continue my career,” Badosa said on the WTA Insider Podcast.

“I said, ‘A few more years? I’m still 26.’ For me that was very tough.”

But with the help of cortisone shots and a refusal to let her career whittle away, Badosa quietly built up belief in her body and her tennis once again. Her run to the Round of 16 in Rome, where she beat Mirra Andreeva, Emma Navarro and Diana Shnaider before taking Coco Gauff to a third set, was a huge catalyst. Then came two wins over Katie Boulter and Yulia Putintseva at Roland Garros.

She came into Wimbledon after making her first quarterfinal of the season, on the grass at Bad Homburg. That run put her back in the Top 100 at No.93.

Badosa has played like a woman renewed at SW19. It began with clinical wins over Karolina Muchova and Brenda Fruhvirtova. That set up a true gut-check against Rothesay International champion Kasatkina, who was bidding to extend her win streak to a personal-best eight matches.

After a delayed start due to rain, Badosa raced to a 3-0 lead before Kasatkina slowly and methodically reeled her in. After trailing 5-2, Kasatkina won three consecutive games and saved three set points to keep the set in the balance, but Badosa surged from 5-5 in the tiebreak to take the set.

Kasatkina struck back in the second set with a timely break in the 10th game to take the set and rode that momentum to a 4-2 lead in the decider. But the Eastbourne champion failed to consolidate the break and Badosa was off and running. With more aggressive, disciplined hitting, the Spaniard won the last four games to seal her first Top 20 win in over a year.

“I’ve always been very tough mentally and a fighter, so I was going to do it anyway,” Badosa said. “So for me, I’m very proud that I’ve been through all of this. And now that I’m, again, in the fourth round and playing good level again, because sometimes also when I came back at the beginning of the year and struggling so much, my level wasn’t there. I feel myself so far away. Now seeing myself back at it, it means a lot.”

Caroline Garcia Named to France’s Olympic Tennis Team for 2024 Paris Games

Posted on June 21, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Caroline Garcia will be competing at the upcoming Paris Olympics.

The 20-year-old Spanish-French tennis player, a two-time French Open doubles champion, has been selected to France’s tennis team for the 2024 Paris Games on Friday but not her frequent partner Kristina Mladenovic.

Garcia and Mladenovic won at Roland Garros — the Olympic venue next month — in 2016 and 2022. Their most recent Grand Slam appearance was at the Australian Open, where they reached the quarterfinals. They haven’t played together on tour since February.

Mladenovic is a former doubles No. 1 who has slipped to No. 55. She has nine Grand Slam doubles titles, including four French.

Garcia played only singles at the French Open this year and bowed out in the second round.

She will play the Olympic doubles with Diane Parry. Also on the women’s team were Clara Burel and Varvara Gracheva.

Olympic tennis starts July 27.

Rafael Nadal to Play Singles & Doubles at 2024 Paris Games

Posted on June 12, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Rafael Nadal is set to play at the 2024 Paris Games.

The 38-year-old Spanish professional tennis player has been named to the Spanish tennis team for the Paris Olympics, where he’ll also partner with French Open champion Carlos Alcaraz in doubles, the Royal Spanish Tennis Federation has announced.

Nadal, who has been limited the past two years by a number of injuries, has said the Olympic Games were his focus and that he could skip Wimbledon to prepare.

“My main goal now is to play Olympics,” Nadal said after losing in the first round at Roland Garros on May 27. “That’s going to be here. So I need to prepare myself the proper way to try to arrive here healthy and well prepared, and then let’s see.”

Nadal and Alcaraz will play in both singles and doubles at the Games.

The tennis competition will be held at Roland Garros, where Nadal is a 14-time Grand Slam champion and Alcaraz just won the French Open on Sunday.

“One pair, which I think everyone knows and was hoping for, is Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal and the second pair is yet to be decided. It hasn’t been 100% confirmed yet,” national team coach David Ferrer told reporters.

Alcaraz, who will be making his Olympic debut, has set winning an Olympic medal for Spain as one of his top career goals. He said after winning at Roland Garros that this year he would prefer a gold medal at the Paris Olympics over successfully defending his Wimbledon title.

“The Olympic Games are every four years and it’s a special tournament where you’re not only playing for yourself, but for a country, representing every Spaniard,” the No. 2-ranked Alcaraz said. “I think this year I’d choose Olympic gold.”

Nadal has a singles gold medal from the 2008 Beijing Games and a 2016 gold in doubles, when he played with Marc Lopez.

Spain also selected Pablo Carreno Busta, Alejandro Davidovich and Marcel Granollers (doubles) for the men’s competition. Captain Anabel Medina picked No. 55 Sara Sorribes Tormo and No. 67 Cristina Bucsa — the top-ranked Spanish players — for the women’s team, with Paula Badosa deciding not to compete as she has only two more events to play while using her protected ranking.

Carlos Alcaraz Outlasts Alexander Zverev to Win History-Making French Open Title

Posted on June 9, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Carlos Alcaraz is celebrating a historic win at the French Open.

The 21-year-old Spanish tennis player defeated Alexander Zverev in five sets to capture the title at Roland Garros on Sunday to become the youngest man to win Grand Slam titles on all three surfaces.

Alcaraz and Zverev battled for 4 hours, 19 minutes, but Alcaraz came through 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2.

His 2024 French Open title sits alongside his triumphs at the 2022 US Open and at last year’s Wimbledon.

“Winning a Grand Slam is always special,” Alcaraz said afterward. “Winning your first in every Grand Slam is always super special.

“But in Roland Garros, knowing all the Spanish players who have won this tournament and be able to put my name on that amazing list is something unbelievable. Something that I dream about being in this position since I was started playing tennis, since I was 5, 6 years old.”

The triumph secures Alcaraz’s spot in tennis history, as he becomes the seventh player to win a Slam event on all three surfaces — following in the footsteps of Jimmy Connors, Mats Wilander, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. But he’s the youngest to achieve the feat, having turned 21 in May.

Nadal completed his trio at 22 years, 7 months when he won the 2009 Australian Open.

Alcaraz said the French Open meant the most to him, given that he came into the competition with injury concerns.

“Probably this one is the moment that I’m really proud about myself, because everything that I have done the last month just to be ready for this tournament with my team, a lot of talks with them,” Alcaraz said. “So I’m going to say this one is the most that I am proud about myself.”

It was Zverev’s second Grand Slam final, but he has now lost both in five sets, having fallen in the 2020 US Open final to Dominic Thiem.

“It is what it is,” Zverev said. “Look, he played fantastic. He played better than me the fourth and fifth set. It’s how it is. I felt like this Grand Slam final I did everything I could. At the US Open I kind of gave it away myself. It’s a bit different.”

Alcaraz, meanwhile, became the first man at the French Open to win five-set matches in both the semifinal and final since Rod Laver in 1962 — and just the eighth to do it in any Grand Slam event since the Open era began in 1968.

Alcaraz came into this event managing an arm injury that had forced him to withdraw from the Monte Carlo Masters and Barcelona Open. He lost in Madrid to Andrey Rublev and withdrew from Rome with the same injury. So he had only four matches on clay coming into the tournament, but he came through the opening rounds in confident form despite saying he was unable to hit his forehand at full power. He dispatched J.J. Wolf, Jesper De Jong, Seb Korda, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Stefanos Tsitsipas en route to a semifinal with incumbent world No.1 Jannik Sinner, but Alcaraz came through 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Zverev won the Italian Open and then opened his Roland Garros campaign by defeating 14-time champion Nadal in the first round. He then got past David Goffin, Tallon Griekspoor, Holger Rune, Alex de Minaur and Casper Ruud to book his spot in the final.

Alcaraz started Sunday’s match as the better of the two players, taking the first set 6-1. He was then up a break in the second, only for Zverev to win the next five games. The same thing happened in the third set, with Alcaraz up 5-2, only to lose 7-5.

Alcaraz had treatment on his left leg during the break, and continued to have physio work at changeovers.

“It was something that I started to feel in the semifinal,” Alcaraz said. “Playing five sets, it’s demanding. After the match you’re going to feel something. If not, you’re not human.”

After taking the fourth set 6-1, Alcaraz started the fifth in the ascendancy and went up a break, but Zverev threatened to break back.

Down 2-1, Zverev had two break points, and thought he’d won the game when Alcaraz double-faulted at 15-40. The ball was called out, only for umpire Renaud Lichtenstein to overrule that and deem it in, meaning the point would be replayed.

Zverev claimed later that he’d seen footage showing that the ball was in fact out.

“I mean, look, there’s a difference whether you’re down 3-1 in the fifth set or you’re back to 2-all. That’s a deciding difference,” Zverev said afterward. “Yeah, it’s frustrating in the end, but it is what it is. Umpires make mistakes. They’re also human, and that’s OK. But of course, in a situation like that, you wish there wouldn’t be mistakes.”

From there, Alcaraz saved four break points in that game and went on to close out the fifth set to secure the title and improve his record to 11-1 in five-set matches.

“I know that when I’m playing a fifth set, you have to give everything, you have to give your heart,” Alcaraz said. “In those moments, it’s where the top players give their best tennis. I want to be one of the best tennis players in the world, so have to give my extra in those moments and show the opponent I’m fresh — like I’m playing in the first game of a match.”

Alcaraz now plans to get a tattoo of Sunday’s date — June 9, 2024 — to go with the dates from his other two Grand Slams.

“I will do it for sure,” said Alcaraz, whose US Open tattoo is on the back of his neck. “[This tattoo] will be on the left ankle, Wimbledon was on the right one, this will be on the left one, with the date of today. It’s something I’m going to do. I don’t know if it’ll take a month, or two months, but I’ll do it.

“I just want to keep going, and let’s see how many Grand Slams I’m going to take at the end of my career. Hopefully reach the 24, but right now I’m going to enjoy my third one, and let’s see in the future.”

Marcelo Arevalo Claims Second Career Men’s Doubles Title at French Open

Posted on June 8, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Marcelo Arevalo is celebrating a second double’s title at the French Open…

The 33-year-old Salvadoran professional tennis player and Mate Pavic of Croatia won the men’s doubles title at Roland Garros against Italians Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori 7-5, 6-3 in the final on Saturday.

Pavic completed the set of winning all four Grand Slam titles in men’s doubles and rushed to celebrate with his team on Court Philippe Chatrier.

“First (title) for me here, so I’m very happy,” Pavic said. “It feels special. I lost here twice the final.”

Arevalo grabbed a scarf with his country’s name on it, raised it aloft and chanted “Salvador, Salvador.”

It was Arevalo’s second men’s doubles title after winning at Roland Garros in 2022 with Jean-Julien Rojer.

“I want to thank Mate for trusting me and believing in me, to fight together. We did it together, man,” an emotional Arevalo said. “My second title here also feels special.”

With Arevalo serving for the match at 40-30, Pavic missed a straightforward-looking volley. The ball clipped the top of the net, landed on the wrong side, and Pavic put his hand over his mouth in disbelief.

But Pavic, the reigning Olympic champion in men’s doubles, made up for it moments later by saving a break point with a difficult smash down the middle when leaning backward.

They won on the second match point when Vavassori hit a forehand wide, and the ninth-seeded winners both fell to the red clay.

Bolelli is a former singles player who reached a highest ranking of No. 36 but did not win a title in singles. He won the Australian Open men’s doubles in 2015 alongside countryman Fabio Fognini and has reached the semifinals in doubles at every Grand Slam tournament.

Vavassori has lost both major finals he has played in men’s doubles. They were seeded 11th.

Carlos Alcaraz Outlasts Jannik Sinner to Reach First-Ever French Open Final

Posted on June 7, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Carlos Alcaraz has advanced to his first-ever French Open final.

Despite starting poorly and falling behind by two sets to one in his French Open semifinal against Jannik Sinner, the 21-year-old Spanish tennis player ultimately persevered.

Alcaraz pulled out a 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Sinner to get to his first final in Paris, making him the youngest man to reach a Grand Slam title match on three surfaces.

By the end of the latest installment in this burgeoning rivalry between two young, talented players, an engaging five-setter that lasted 4 hours, 9 minutes, Alcaraz actually had accumulated fewer total points, 147-145.

“You have to find the joy [while] suffering. That’s the key — even more on clay, here at Roland Garros. Long rallies. Four-hour matches. Five sets,” Alcaraz said. “You have to fight. You have to suffer. But as I told my team many, many times, you have to enjoy suffering.”

He won championships at the US Open in 2022 on hard courts and at Wimbledon in 2023 on grass.

Now the No. 3-seeded Alcaraz will face No. 4 Alexander Zverev of Germany on the red clay Sunday.

This will be the first French Open men’s final without Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer since 2004.

Djokovic was the defending champion in Paris, but withdrew before the quarterfinals after tearing the meniscus in his right knee. B

In the fifth set, with shadows covering more than half the court, Alcaraz moved out front by sliding until he could reach across his body to snap a backhand passing winner for a break point. A forehand winner — one of his 30 in the match — made it 2-0 at the 3½-hour mark, earning a yell of “Vamos!” from his coach, 2003 French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Soon, it was 3-0, and Alcaraz was on his way.

“It was a great match. For sure, the sets he won, he played better in the important points,” Sinner said. “That was the key.”

Both players walloped the ball with such force that the ball-off-strings thuds elicited gasps from spectators in the middle of points.

Sinner, his rust-colored shirt a few shades darker than the clay, came out ready at the start of the match, barely ever missing, gliding more than grinding along the baseline and stretching his long limbs to get to nearly everything Alcaraz offered.

Alcaraz, his right arm covered by a white sleeve, would deliver a powerful shot to a corner, punctuated with a grunt, and Sinner would somehow get to it, flip it back and draw a mistake.

Sinner led 4-0, and it took Alcaraz 20 minutes of striving to simply place a “1” beside his name on the scoreboard. The second set began inauspiciously for Alcaraz, who fell behind 2-0.

“I told myself,” Alcaraz said, “that it’s going to be a long match.”

He did not go quietly. Getting more aggressive and doing what he could to shorten points, Alcaraz turned things around right when he needed to, using a five-game run to take control of that set.

After Sinner took the third, Alcaraz pushed the proceedings to a fifth. He closed the fourth with a cross-court backhand winner, then raised his right fist and shook it.

Here’s how Alcaraz came through: He came up with a 32-23 edge in winners over the last two sets.

With his strokes, somehow, gaining zest, and the fans, somehow, getting louder, Alcaraz advanced at a tournament he grew up watching on TV at home in Spain as his countryman Nadal piled up a record 14 titles.

Not that it was easy.

“It’s one of the toughest matches that I’ve played, for sure,” Alcaraz said. “The toughest matches that I played in my short career have been against Jannik.”

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