(Cincinnati) Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz saved a match point then recovered from a badly started tiebreaker to finally beat Pole Hubert Hurkacz in three sets (2-6, 7-6/7/4), 6-3 ), and qualify for the final of the Cincinnati Tennis Masters 1000 on Saturday.
Alcaraz, assured of retaining their world number spot for at least one more week after this difficult victory, will try to clinch their 7th title of the year on Sunday against the winner of the other semi-final, Novak Djokovic, who struck Alexander. Zverev (7-6/7-5 and 7-5).
His victory against Hurkacz is the 53rd of the season for the 20-year-old Spaniard, against five defeats.
“The tournament was very difficult for me, all my matches were straight sets,” commented Alcaraz. “But I’m happy to win this kind of match by staying strong mentally.”
“I grew a lot from these experiences. It’s great to be in the final,” he added.
After flatly losing the first set, Alcaraz came close to elimination in the 10th game of the second set, but Hurkacz missed a match point and both players were out for a tiebreaker. In the latter, the Pole took a 4-1 lead, but the Spaniard charged back to level the match, converting the first of two set points.
In the third set, a break from Alcaraz at 3-1 proved decisive and the young Spaniard won with a volley winner.
“It was a mental battle, I had to stay present and positive the whole time,” he said. “I knew I would have chances, I just had to take them. I’m happy that I was able to win.”
Alcaraz will try to win their third Masters of the season after Indian Wells and Madrid. Cincinnati will be its eighth final of 2023.
He is Cincinnati’s youngest finalist since 19-year-old Pete Sampras in 1991.
In the final, the Spaniard will face Serbian Novak Djokovic, who knocked out Alexander Zverev in straight sets 7-6(5), 7-5 late Saturday night.
In the loss, Zverev collected 10 aces. He was, however, unable to land his best serves in the tiebreaker.
Djokovic broke Zverev’s serve in the second set and the German was never able to recover from this break.
