Carlos Alcaraz is one of the revelations of the 2022 season on the ATP men's circuit. After winning in Rio de Janeiro, the Spaniard who many point to as Rafael Nadal's successor once again demonstrated his great moment by beating Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3 and 7-5 to advance to the quarterfinals of the Miami Masters.
But beyond the resounding victory against number 5 in the world ranking, the Spaniard was the protagonist of a spectacular point. Only in the third game of the first set, with the 1-1 duel, both players demonstrated all their tennis ability on cement. With the Greek in service, and after several balls that passed side by side, Tsitsipas approached the net and made a deep volley that seemed to give him the 15-0 in favor.
What did Alcaraz do? He defended himself with a double between his legs that complicated the best racket in Greece. The ball stung near the final line of the court, but Stefanos managed to make it and repeated the same shot as his opponent to try to save the point. Beyond the bullfight, the Spaniard defined with the net with a setback for the delirium of all those present at the Grand Stand court in Miami. From the ATP account in Spanish they did not want to miss the opportunity to qualify this action. “Look no further, the point of the year,” they wrote on their Twitter account.
Despite keeping that point at the start of the game, the native of Murcia lost his serve in the sixth game and was 4-2 down in the first set. What's more, he managed to forgive four break points in the next game, which put Tsitsipas 5-2 in front after a game that lasted about 10 minutes.
Beyond the difference, Alcaraz always seemed to stand better on the court. And he demonstrated this on the court with unbeatable defenses and great points, both with his right hand and with his backhand. The Spaniard broke the Greek serve in the ninth game and kept his service at zero to equalize the shares. That was the start of a seven-game streak in which Alcaraz left only five out of 32 points to his rival.
Alcaraz's sequidilla led him from 2-5 to 7-5 and 2-0, with a break in his favor in the first game of the second set that left Tsitsipas on the ropes. The world number 16 turned the first break point opportunity he got in the second set and saved three against to defend him until the final 6-3 that closed the match in his favor. The triumph allowed the Spaniard to climb to fifteenth place in the ranking, which was his goal for the season.
After his victory against the Greek, the new jewel of Spanish tennis will now be measured by the move to the semifinals of the Miami Open with Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic, who surprised by eliminating American Taylor Fritz in the final match of the day 3-6, 6-1 and 6-4. The other quarter crosses will feature world number 1 Daniil Medvedev with Hubert Kurkacz, Jannik Sinner with the surprising Francisco Cerundolo and Casper Ruud against Alexander Zverev.
KEEP READING: