As in Wimbledon, Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev met in the semi-finals in Beijing – again the Spaniard won. Now Jannik Sinner is waiting. Meanwhile, Arthur Fils managed a spectacular turnaround in Tokyo.
Variable and courageous: Carlos Alcaraz is in form.
IMAGO/Xinhua
French Open and Wimbledon winner Carlos Alcaraz was the first to reach the final of the ATP tournament in Beijing. In a duel between two Grand Slam winners in the semifinals, the 21-year-old Spaniard defeated the Russian Daniil Medvedev 7:5, 6:3 on the fourth match point after 1:26 hours.
His opponent in the “dream final” will be world number one Jannik Sinner. The Italian beat the carefree Chinese surprise semi-finalist Bu Yunchaokete 6:3, 7:6 (7:3). In the first set, the outsider missed three break points to take a 3-2 lead – and that took revenge shortly afterwards. An impressive 38 unforced errors from Sinner also showed that there was still room for improvement.
Medvedev: “Don’t buy Hawk Eye, people”
And Alcaraz? “I’m happy that I only lost focus briefly in the first set,” he said: “I played really good tennis in the crucial phase.” Medvedev, on the other hand, spoke out especially during the match. “Why does the ATP buy Hawk Eye systems when we can’t see a call in the middle of a rally?” he asked annoyed and followed up loudly: “Don’t buy Hawk Eye, people.”
For Alcaraz, who will replace Germany’s top player Alexander Zverev at number 2 in the ATP rankings next Monday, it was the sixth victory in the eighth duel with Medvedev – and the fourth in a row. In the eighth meeting with a top-five player this year, Alcaraz retained the upper hand for the seventh time. He only had to admit defeat to Novak Djokovic in the final of the Olympic Games. He has a 10-3 record against top 10 players in 2024.
Alcaraz played variably and courageously against the world number five on Tuesday, hitting 25 winners, eight more than his opponent. Medvedev was also obviously handicapped by an injury in the second set. In the first set, peppered with highlight rallies, there were, strangely enough, four breaks in a row (between 2:2 and 4:4).
Fils fends off match point in the Tokyo final and wins
Meanwhile, Arthur Fils won the ATP tournament in Tokyo, which was not nearly as prominent as in Beijing. The score was 5:7, 7:6 (8:6), 6:3 at the end of three extremely close sets against his French compatriot Ugo Humbert (number 18 in the world). He had a spectacular match point on his own serve in the tiebreak of the second round before the whole thing turned around.
For Fils, number 24 in the world rankings, it is the third ATP title of his career.
