Jannik Sinner exacted his revenge and leveled one of the best rivalries in tennis today. The Italian dried up the path of Carlos Alcaraz in Miami (6-7 (4), 6-4 and 6-2) and prevents the Spaniard from repeating the title in Miami, completing the ‘Sunshine Double’ and retaining number one, which the Next Monday it will be held by Novak Djokovic.
Alcaraz, who ended up suffering from some cramps, gave in to the best Sinner, the man who threatens to be his nemesis in the future and the only one of his generation who is being able to stand up to him, waiting for more duels with tennis players like Holger Rune.
The transalpine took his revenge for what happened in Indian Wells two weeks ago and in one of the best matches of the tournament he sealed the pass to the final, where he will meet the Russian Daniil Medvedev, who will breathe a sigh of relief at not seeing Alcaraz face to face , his executioner in Indian Wells.
Sinner was being the best receiver of the tournament, with percentages that were close to 90% on balls returned with the rival’s serve, and against Alcaraz he built with this hit to be superior. The Murcian was intermittently at the service, with a car of nine double faults, and poor statistics. He only put 55% first serves inside, won 66% firsts and 41% seconds. For a tennis player who had only lost serve twice in the four previous matches, it was a very important deficit, which he still overcame at the first level, based on pure talent.
In a determined partial in the ‘tie break’, Alcaraz raised a 2-4 against and survived the ups and downs to take advantage of Sinner after an hour and twenty minutes of manga. It seemed a declaration of intent similar to when two weeks ago he also won the first set of the match in the tiebreaker, but Alcaraz was deflating and Sinner was growing. With 4-4 in the second quarter, the Spaniard had a break ball that could have changed everything, but, after being deactivated by San Candido, he broke Alcaraz’s serve for the fourth time and equalized the game.
The physical problems of the Spaniard began and there was no way to rejoin the match. Sinner broke Alcaraz’s serve two more times, who only had one chance to break in his favor throughout the set, and closed a morally very important victory for him, because he takes revenge in some way for the defeats at the US Open and in Indian Wells and equals three the most electric rivalry in current tennis.
“This means a lot, a lot to me. We have played at a very high level, “acknowledged Sinner, who next Monday will be in the top ten in the world again and will play his second Masters 1,000 final, after losing here in 2021 against Hubert Hurkacz.
Alcaraz, for his part, says goodbye to the number one in the world and to the dream of being the first Spaniard to complete the ‘Sunshine Double’.
«I don’t think much about losing the number one or the double. It’s a shame, yes, but I think I’m going to have many more years ahead of me to achieve it,” acknowledged the Spaniard, who will return to the tracks from April 10 at the Monte Carlo Masters 1,000, where last season he lost in second place. round.
