(Madrid) Reigning Madrid Open champion Carlos Alcaraz survived a tough test against Karen Khachanov, coming from behind in the second set to score a 6-4, 7-5 win to carve out a place in the semi-finals.
Alcaraz trailed 5-2 in the final set before winning five games in a row to secure a fourth victory in Madrid’s straight sets. The favorite is now 27-2 this season and has dropped just one set in its last 19 wins. He will play a third semi-final of a Masters 1000 this season.
The Spaniard converted his first match point after 10th-seeded Khachanov took control of the set with an early break. The Russian took advantage of two more break points to take a 5-1 lead before Alcaraz began their comeback.
Alcaraz finished with 31 winners. He took advantage of his first break point to make it 4-3 in the first set. He will now face the winner of the duel between the 17th seed Borna Coric or the drafted tennis player Daniel Altmaier, who will play their match on Thursday.
He is trying to become the first player to win two Masters 1000 this season, having won Indian Wells. He defended with his successes his victories in Barcelona and Buenos Aires.
If Alcaraz defends his crown in Madrid, he will regain the number one ranking in the world if he plays at least one round in Rome.
On the women’s side, Veronika Kudermetova reached the semi-finals of a WTA 1000 tournament for the first time in her career by upsetting third seed Jessica Pegula 6-4, 0-6, 6-4.
Ranked 12th, Kudermetova confirmed her victory with an ace on her second match point. This victory will allow him to face the No. 1 Iga Swiatek or Petra Martic, who will face each other later Wednesday, in the semi-finals.
It is a fourth victory in a row in three sets for Kudermetova.
Pegula was trying to reach the final of the Madrid tournament for the second time in a row. She lost to Ons Jabeur last year.
The Russian has reached three quarter-finals of WTA 1000 tournaments, all in 2022, in addition to Roland-Garros. The 26-year-old has reached two more semi-finals this year, in Adelaide, Australia and Doha, Qatar. She came to Madrid on a series of four losses.
Pegula had some trouble on the serve. She was broken on three occasions in the first and third sets, quite in contrast to the second, where she only needed 22 minutes and in which Kudermetova won just five rallies.
The other semi-final in the women’s draw will pit second seed Aryna Sabalenka against ninth-seeded Maria Sakkari.
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