Alcaraz is two steps away from becoming number one in the world again

After three consecutive defeats and after Felix Auger-Aliassime won the title of the black beast, Carlos Alcaraz finally defeated the Canadian (6-4 and 6-4) and returned a year later to the semi-finals of Indian Wells. His rival for the place in the final will be the Italian Jannik Sinner. (The semi-finals start at 19:00. And Alcaráza, who will play second, will not start before 10:20 p.m. It will be broadcast on Movistar Sports). Medvedev and Tiafoe will play in the second semi-final.

After crashing out at the 2021 US Open, when he was just a rising prospect, at the 2022 Davis Cup and in Basel last year, Alcaraz shed one of the biggest weights of his short career to defeat a tennis player looking to cause more than one headache in the coming years. In two hours, Alcaraz won his first victory against the currently tenth player in the world and returns to the semifinals where he lost to Rafael Nadal last year. And with the confidence that he signed a practically perfect match in which he was excellent on the serve, with 81% of the points won on the first serve, but above all on the break.

“One of the best in my career”

Auger-Aliassime, who lost serve five times in the rest of the tournament, faced twelve break points against the Spaniard, of which he conceded three. Alcaraz didn’t even give him a breather and put him in trouble on practically every serve. “It was one of the matches that I took away the best from my entire career. That was the big key to win this match,” Alcaraz explained at the press conference. Alcaraz will already face another contemporary and great rival of his generation like Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals. The Italian defeated the still current champion Taylor Fritz ( 6-4, 4-6 and 6-4) and will play their third semi-final this year, after Montpellier and Rotterdam.

Sinner and Alcaraz have met four times, with two wins each. The Transalpinac celebrated in the round of 16 of Wimbledon 2022 and the final of Umag 2022, while the Spaniard celebrated at the Masters 1000 in Paris-Bercy and in the memorable quarter-final of the US Open last year, when Alcaraz raised the match point. “The most dangerous thing Sinner has is the pressure he puts on you. He hits the ball very well, hard, always tries to hit forward. Claiming every point is the most dangerous thing about it. I will try to dominate the game,” said Carlos.

With two new victories, Alcaraz will return to number one, ahead of Novak Djokovic, who was unable to perform in Indian Wells, and will not be able to play in Miami either because he has not been vaccinated. The second semi-final will be played by Daniil Medvedev, who has 18 consecutive victories, against Frances Tiafoe.