He spanish tennis playerCarlos Alcaraz suffered this Friday a dramatic defeat against the Italian Jannik Sinner in the semifinals of the Masters 1000 in Miami, which will also mean delivering the ATP number one the Serbian Novak Djokovic.
Alcaraz, who needed to revalidate this trophy to maintain world leadership, fell 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-2 in a spectacular duel of more than three hours in which he suffered apparent physical problems in the last set.
Sinner, number 11 in the ATP and another of the great jewels of the circuit, will fight for his first Masters 1000 title in the final on Sunday against the Russian Daniil Medvedev.
At 19 years old, Alcaraz accumulated an astonishing streak of 10 consecutive victories without dropping a single set with which he lifted his first trophy at the Indian Wells Masters 1000 and regained the world number one.
Displaying the most overwhelming tennis on the circuit, Alcaraz dreamed of becoming the youngest champion of the ‘Sunshine Double’ but all his plans crashed on Friday against Sinner, his great generational rival.
Spanish and Italian offered a first set of high carats, with some of the best points of the season to be enjoyed by a crowd attended by basketball player Luka Doncic and Colombian singer Maluma, among other celebrities.
Alcaraz was able to recover from a 1-4 deficit to pocket the first set in the ‘tiebreak’.
But Sinner resisted tooth and nail to concede a third consecutive defeat against the Spaniard and, with a decisive break in the ninth game, he managed to make Alcaraz lose his first set of the tournament and had to fight in a third set in which he began to get cramps
The Spaniard, who had one day less rest due to the postponement of his quarterfinals due to the rain, had to stop several times on the track and flex his legs trying to drive away the pain.
The clash led to a roller coaster of emotions in which the Spaniard, although he had a break point to equalize the set, lost the battle against his great adversary and friend, whom he did not wish luck for the final.
«Go for it, I’ll cheer you on», A smiling Alcaraz told him on the net.
In the afternoon, former number one Daniil Medvedev qualified for his first Miami final by defeating fellow Russian Karen Khachanov 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-3.
With this victory Medvedev accumulates a presence in five consecutive finals in a spectacular start to the season in which of his last 24 games he only lost the Indian Wells final.
«I have to believe in myself. I know that I am capable of winning big tournaments, that I can play well, beat anyone, “said the tennis player from Moscow.
Medvedev has lifted the trophies in Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai this season, recovering the excellent moment of form with which in 2021 he achieved his only Grand Slam title (US Open) and became world number one.
In the women’s branch, in the WTA 1000 category, the veteran Petra Kvitova defeated the Romanian Sorana Cirstea on Friday and will be the rival in the final on Saturday of the Kazakh Elena Rybakina, also champion of the last Indian Wells.
Rybakina, winner of Wimbledon in 2022, aspires to be the fourth player to conquer the “Sunshine Double” after Steffi Graf (1994, 1996), Kim Clijsters (2005), Victoria Azarenka (2016) and the current WTA leader, Iga Swiatek (2022).
The only player who can prevent it is the Czech Kvitova, who will play her first Miami final thanks to her victory on Friday against the Romanian Sorana Cirstea 7-5, 6-4.
Kvitova, winner of 29 titles, eight of them WTA 1000, had no problem ceding favoritism in the final to Rybakina, with whom she has shared victories in her two previous meetings.
«She is the favorite, definitely. She is playing incredible tennis winning Indian Wells and reaching the final here,” she acknowledged. “What I can say is that I’m ready for the final.”