Miami Open: Carlos Alcaraz in the final - victory over defending champion Hurkacz
Carlos Alcaraz (ATP No. 16) has reached his first Masters 1000 final in Miami.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Apr 02, 2022, 08:06 am
Alcaraz defeated last year's winner Hubert Hurkacz in the semifinals 7: 6 (5), 7: 6 (2) and is thus in the biggest final of his young career so far.
The 18-year-old was already 3:5 behind in the tie-break of the first set, but then won the following four points. At 5: 5 in the second set, he again showed nerves of steel when he fended off two break chances for Hurkacz. In general, both players remained without a loss of service, they allowed their opponent three chances to do so and fended them all off. Alcaraz has only suffered two breaks in the entire tournament so far.
The Spaniard was emotional after his win. "It's something you dream of as a kid," he explained. He wanted to approach the final like a first round, "hide my nerves," he said. And: "I want to enjoy it, it will be a grand finale."
Alcaraz with a fair gesture at the end of sentence 1
There was also a great scene in the first set: Alcaraz served when the score was 5: 6 and 30: 0, in the following rally the referee saw the ball bounce twice after a stop ("not up") and awarded Alcaraz the point . Hurkacz got very upset - and Alcaraz approved a repeat. What sportsmanship! The repetition showed that Hurkacz was right.
"He has an incredible career ahead of him," Hurkacz praised his opponent after the match. "He plays absurdly for his age".
For the Pole, a winning streak of 10 matches in a row comes to an end. Hurkacz surprisingly won the Miami Open last year, beating Jannik Sinner in the final.
Here is the single tableau from Miami.
miamimap