Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz and Serbian Novak Djokovic qualified for the final of the Cincinnati Tennis Masters 1000 on Saturday, the first by beating the Pole Hubert Hurkacz with difficulty, and the second overcoming the German Alexander Zverev.
However, we did not go far from a surprise on the side of Alcaraz: the Spaniard saved a match point then recovered a badly started tie-break to finally win against Hurkacz in three sets (2-6 , 7-6 (7/4), 6-3). The native of Murcia, guaranteed to approach the US Open of which he is the title holder in the first world rank, will try Sunday to win his seventh title of the year against Djokovic (2nd).
His victory against Hurkacz is the 53rd of the season for the 20-year-old Spaniard, against five defeats. “The tournament was very difficult for me, all my matches were in three sets,” commented Alcaraz. “But I’m happy to win this kind of match by staying strong mentally. I grew a lot thanks to these experiences. It’s great to be in the final,” he added.
After flatly losing the first set, Alcaraz came close to elimination in the tenth game of the second set, but Hurkacz missed a match point and both players were out for a tie-break. In the latter, the Pole took a 4-1 lead but the Spaniard charged back to equalize and move past, converting the first of his two set points. In the third set, a break from Alcaraz at 3-1 proved decisive and the world number 1 imposed itself with a winning end. “It was a mental battle, I had to stay present and positive the whole time,” he said. “I knew I would have chances, I just had to take them. I am happy to have been able to win”.
Alcaraz will try to win their third Masters 1000 of the season after Indian Wells and Madrid. Cincinnati will be his eighth final of 2023. He is Cincinnati’s youngest finalist since 19-year-old Pete Sampras in 1991. And who but Djokovic, the runner-up who hopes to take the throne from him, to face him ? The 36-year-old Serb had a close match, but only needed two sets to defeat Zverev (7-6 (7/5), 7-5). “A final with world number one and two against each other is, I imagine, what everyone wanted. Here we are,” he summed up.
