In the longest match in the history of the China Openthe number one and number three in the world in the ATP ranking met in the final of the Asian tournament with a favorable balance for Carlos Alcaraz, who He beat Jannik Sinner for the third consecutive time.
After falling to the Italian on October 3, 2023 in the semifinal of last year’s China Open, Alcaraz gained revenge and he beat the best in the world in the 2024 final, thereby confirming his superiority after defeating him earlier in the Indian Wells semifinal and in the same instance at the French Open.
This Wednesday was an even duel that ended (6)6-7, 6-4 and 7-6(3) in favor of the Murcian, who won his fourth ATP title of the season, but had to work hard in a duel that extended to 3 hours and 21 minutes of exchanges on the center court of the tennis complex in the capital of the Asian giant.
Despite two first setbacks to the net in the initial game when he defended his serve, the Murcian dominated the beginning, but he was unable to open his turn to the rest, with three break balls, because he had a number in front of him. a global one that did not plan to give up.
The Italian, when he could, forced Alcaraz to move along the back of the court and was aggressive at the net, but the next number two in the ranking, in a state of grace, reached everything and returned through impossible spaces, with a fortune, which he himself admitted, other times is contrary to him.
The first break would come in a fourth game that showed Sinner’s reverse problems, who saw that for those balls that he did not send out or into the net, El Palmar’s player gave them back in such a way that the return became complicated.
However, the transalpine player, after a seventh game to the rest in blank, and defending his serve, got a break just when the Spanish tennis player was about to close the set, and then tied the set after an erratic forehand by Alcaraz.
Sinner’s fans in the stands of the ‘Pekingese Diamond’ woke up to the comeback of their tennis player, but Juan Carlos Ferrero’s pupil immediately extinguished the murmurs with a resounding 40-0, countered by the Italian who even saved a set point. .
In the tie break, the two rackets showed their entire repertoire, for the better, with climbs to the net, impossible shots and perfect drop shots, and for the worse, with errors on both sides, but which in the end hurt Alcaraz, who ended up giving in. the tiebreaker, despite having had a ball to take it.
The second round began with the calm that a final can allow, with both tennis players confident in serving, with ‘aces’ included, exchanging balls and blank games.
However, in the sixth, and above all, seventh game, hostilities broke out, with two breaking balls included for Alcaraz, but which Sinner did not want to concede.
And even so, they pale in comparison to the eighth, of more than 11 minutes, in which the Spaniard started against the ropes after a lob from the transalpine that forced him to do the impossible, and finished, after saving two break balls and making beautiful plays that lifted the audience from their seats, with two forceful ‘aces’.
An exhibition that served as perfect inertia to then break the service of his rival of the night and give him a perfect 40-0 that gave him enough confidence to complain to the stands, via a characteristic gesture showing the ear, several times the ovation.
Because the ‘state of grace’, as the Russian Daniil Medvedev described Alcaraz’s current situation, once greased, allows the last set to begin with another blank game in his favor and a first break for the Murcian.
Although if anyone can cope with that state, it is the number one in the ATP rankings, capable of saving two break points and igniting a run run in the Chinese stands, turned into a torrent when in the eighth game he took advantage of one of his three opportunities of ‘break’ to equalize 4-4.
With 5 and 40 equal, the two rackets exchanged balls and advantages, but Alcaraz hit a winning forehand against the net that gave extra life to Sinner, and that inevitably took the match to the second tiebreaker of the night.
A new ‘tie break’, which could well be a set in itself, with a strong start from the Italian, who went up to 3-0, but could not contain a typhoon from Murcia in Asian lands, who chained up seven points followed to become the new Spanish emperor of China, replacing Rafael Nadal, winner of the 2017 edition.
“Jannik could have won”: Alcaraz recognized the Italian’s effort
Shortly after the game, with his heart rate returning to normal, the Murcian tennis player acknowledged that it was a very complicated game in which at times he felt that victory would slip away, although he said he was proud of having found a way to resolve the game. his favor the party.
“Jannik could have won; I also had my opportunities, but I didn’t take advantage of them. “I am very happy with how I handled those difficult moments,” he said, referring to the decisive points in the first and last set.
Regarding the duration of the match and the fight for each point, the Spaniard pointed out that this is good for the spectators, because these almost epic battles are the ones that attract more fans to the fields.
“These intense matches, with long points and close exchanges, make people enjoy and feel more attracted to tennis”, concluded the new monarch of the China Open.
*With information from EFE.
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