On his 20th birthday,
Carlos Alcaraz took the step from adolescence to adulthood doing what he does best, winning.
This time his victim was the Croatian
Borna Coric
as a victim (6-4 and 6-3) and the gift was reaching the final of the Masters 1000 in Madrid for the second time in a row, which he already took last year.
With an excessive ambition -
"I want to be among the best in history"
, he said this week - and with dazzling tennis, with the physical explosiveness of his age and with the experience of having been the youngest number one in history,
Alcaraz Gather all the ingredients to win what is proposed
.
On the track, Manolo Santana from the Caja Mágica mixed them masterfully to cancel out Coric.
An hour and 40 minutes it took Alcaraz to win the game, played on a crowded track and with 25 degrees of temperature.
The birthday cake was the bonus track to a tennis party.
A cake for Carlos Alcaraz.
Photo: EFE/Chema Moya
The first game lasted until 12 minutes and allowed us to guess that the clash was not going to be a walk for the Murcian. The mistakes he made in the early stages, with Coric very agile at the net, made the public resort to applause to cheer to the local hero
Alcaraz was also unable to get the most out of his drop shots at first, because the Croatian, feared on the circuit for his speed, reached many and, at the same time, he also dared successfully with a few.
The legitimate aspirations of the Croatian to defeat Alcaraz began to be frustrated in the fifth game, when two of his errors, a drop shot and two right hands from the world number two gave him his first break.
He confirmed that advantage without struggling, although Coric, twentieth in the world ranking, always remained in the set and surprised his rival by taking it on the wrong foot or with incredible parallels.
Alcaraz served to close the set and with a repertoire of the best tennis -serve from him, right, left- he took the game blank.
After the 1-1 draw in the second set, the match was decided in the next three games.
Watched by the legendary Björn Borg, Alcaraz managed a new 'break' and the Croat responded with a counterbreak, but the Murcian refused to run from behind and accelerated again and put himself ahead.
Bjorn Borg and his wife Patricia Ostfeld went to see Alcaraz.
Photo: AFP
Coric showed last year how he is capable of managing successes, when being world number 152 he successively defeated Rafael Nadal, Feliz Auger-Aliassime and Stefanos Tsitsipas, all in the top-10, en route to his victory in the Masters 1,000 of cincinnati.
Alcaraz knew that he could not allow himself to be mistaken.
The points were shortening and Alcaraz took the best part.
With luxury details, such as a direct serve point with a second service or an uncontestable drop-shot volley, he stood at 5-3, one step away from the final.
With a missed shot and a right from Alcaraz to the line, Coric found himself with a threatening 15-40.
Alcaraz did not tremble.
He returned safely and the Croatian returned wide.
The Murcian lost only two games this year.
Carlos Alcaraz (l) greets the Croatian Borna Coric (r), after defeating him in the semifinal match of the Mutua Madrid Tennis Open.
Photo: EFE/Chema Moya
His rival in the final will be the winner of the semifinal that, in the night session on Friday, will be played by the German Jan-Lennard Struff and the Russian Aslan Karatsev, both coming from the previous phase, in which they already met.
Karatsev won, but Struff became a lucky loser and earned his place in the main draw.
With the Russian, Alcaraz has never played.
With the German, twice, in two Grand Slams, with a victory for each: Struff's in the round of 32 at Roland Garros in 2021, Alcaraz's in the first round of Wimbledon in 2022, in five sets.
Alcaraz reaches the final after losing just one set in the entire tournament, the first he played, against the Finn Emil Ruusuvuori.
He then had a well-trodden path to the final, and when he faced any difficulties, such as in the quarterfinals against the Russian Karen Khachanov, he reacted immediately to return the outcome to the logic of the ranking.
After winning the titles in Buenos Aires, Indian Wells and Barcelona this year (he lost the one in Rio), if he successfully defends the Caja Mágica title, he can seal his return to world number one with just one game at the end of this month at the Rome Masters 1000.
Source: EFE