Undefeated since his arrival in the United States, on a streak of 10 victories without losing a single set, Carlos Alcaraz, world No. 1 and ultra dominating since his return from injury, lost in three sets in the semi-finals of the Masters Miami 1000 once morest Jannik Sinner (21, 11th) 6-7, 6-4, 6-3.
Contested to a sold-out crowd at a central Hard Rock Stadium electrified by a few phenomenal points of intensity, the 3:01 meeting turned to the advantage of the Italian thanks to greater physical resistance, the winner of the US Open having suffered from cramps at the start of the third set.
First victory once morest a world No. 1
In each set, Sinner took the upper hand by capturing his opponent’s serve first. The first escaped him as he served at 4-2, but the legendary rally he won on the second point cost him the break. Serving once more at 5-4, he saw Alcaraz take all the risks to equalize and rock in an unbreathable tie-break that the Spaniard won 7 points to 4 while once more the Italian had led 4-2.
The mind-blowing burst of energy from the two players provoked an exchange of breaks at the start of the second act. But Sinner, following erasing two balls from 3-5 with an ace and a too long rocket return from his opponent, took advantage of a poor service game from the Spaniard and widened the gap to 4-4 before to equalize in one round everywhere following 2h12 of combat.
Straddling sets 2 and 3, Alcaraz only won 2 points out of 21. The fault of a 10-minute toilet break for the defending champion who never really recovered. Affected by cramps from the first game of the decisive set, he was literally ghostly until 1-3, 0-30 on his serve.
When the two players play like that, you can feel it on the court. The public too. There was a nice energy.
Shaken by the words of his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, Alcaraz managed to avoid the worst but at 2-4, following having had four chances to win his serve, two double faults then a forehand in the corridor sealed the 6th break of the game succeeded by Sinner. It was too much and the last game was a pure formality offering the protege of Darren Cahill the first victory of his career once morest a world number 1.
“It is certainly one of the most beautiful of my careerhe exulted. It was obviously a very difficult match. I think we both played at a very high level. When the two players play like that, you can feel it on the court. The public too. There was a good energy and it’s nice to be part of this kind of match. »
Already a finalist in Miami in 2021 (beaten by Hurkacz), Jannik Sinner will find Daniil Medvedev on Sunday who beat Karen Khachanov to try to win his first Masters 1000.