There will be no hat-trick for Carlos Alcaraz at the Masters1000 in Madrid. The Iberian tennis player, probably conditioned by the pain in his right arm which has returned to make itself felt, he surrenders to Andrey Rublev with the score di 4-6 6-3 6-2 in just over two hours. The Russian is thus the first semi-finalist of the tournament in the Caja Magica, thus setting aside a highly negative period, while for the Iberian such a defeat, playing from the second set, does not bode well for the coming weeks.
Already at the beginning of the match there seemed to be a couple of hesitations. In fact, the number 8 in the world immediately has a break point in his favorbut it was annulled, and in the fifth game Alcaraz returned to being a little more himself, playing his imaginative tennis. The break comes in his favor in the fifth game, he fails to take advantage of two set points on his opponent’s serve but it’s a matter of minutes, with the Iberian taking the first half.
But already from the second half something seems to go wrong. Alcaraz’s game begins to lose its edge blow after blow and he is forced to give up serve already at the opening, at the fifth opportunity. He sees himself a bit like the same Spaniard seen yesterday with Struff, but if yesterday the German ‘only’ managed to force him into a tiebreak in the third, this time there is a clear top 10 ahead of the winner of two Slams. And it is something different.
The Iberian saves himself from down 0-40, then it’s over Rublev canceled out two break points thanks to his serve, thus managing to take the match to the third. A third set which however does not really exist: the technical disparity between the two is truly evident, with Alcaraz unable to play his tennis with the central court slowly becoming silent. Breaks in the first and fifth games, even if the Russian doesn’t miss two canceled break points: Rublev can thus celebrate, putting aside the bad period of the last few weeks.
Against him will be the winner of tonight’s match between Francisco Cerundolo and Taylor Fritz. From his excellent performance with the first serve, 80% (51/64) and the ability to cancel seven of the eight break points granted.
