ATP 1000 Championship in Madrid – “Stop ball king” Alcaraz also stops Djokovic – Sports

• Shooting star Carlos Alcaraz continues to rise, winning the Madrid semi-final against Novak Djokovic 6:7 (5:7), 7:5, 7:6 (7:5).
• At the origin of the success in the ATP 1000 Championship, the stop balls were as successful as they are worth watching.
• In the final, the Spaniard meets Stefanos Tsitsipas or Alexander Zverev.

Carlos Alcaraz (ATP 9) has repeatedly demonstrated magic hits in “Caja Magica”, especially his lively stop-balls guaranteeing him a number of points worth watching. But not only in the hand, but also in the head of the young Spaniard, everything was fine. Otherwise, he would have barely won his first duel with Novak Djokovic – notably thanks to his tiebreaker in the deciding set. And so Alcaraz left the Manolo Santana stadium upside down after 3:37 hours.

A day after Rafael Nadal knocked out the next big player from the tournament. Defeated Nadal and Djokovic, respectively: no tennis player has been able to achieve this on clay.

The 19-year-old had already created opportunities for the next big coup before making the quick decision. Alcaraz missed 3 balls from the break in the deciding set when the score was 2:1. Even at 3:2 he missed 2 chances, at 5:4 he couldn’t even use match point. It looked as if Djokovic, who had recently suffered the consequences of a mysterious metabolic disease, would once again be able to pull his head off the gallows. In a battle of attrition at the highest level, it was Alcaraz, who was 16 years his junior, who kept his cool.

Alcaraz had a strong start in front of the jubilant crowd that created the atmosphere of the Davis Cup at Manolo Santana Stadium. In the first match, he broke with the gentle help of Djokovic, who made two double faults. Of course, the Serbs could not leave this sitting. As a result, he did not concede a single uncomplicated service game to Alcaraz and tied when the score was 3: 4 with the third break opportunity.