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carlos alcaraz One win away from becoming world number 1 at the end of the year after defeating Taylor Fritz In a three-set epic atp final,
Alcaraz battled back from a set down, enduring one of the performances of Fritz’s life, with the world No. 6 fighting hard for a break in the second set as the Spaniard won 6-7 (2-7), 7-5, 6-3 in two hours and 49 minutes.
Following his opening win over Alex de Minaur, the 22-year-old Alcaraz can now move ahead of his rival and confirm the year-end No. 1 spot. Janic Sinner if he lost Lorenzo Musetti On Thursday. If De Minaur beats Musetti on Tuesday, Alcaraz will reach the semi-finals.
Things might have looked very different if Fritz had got a break when he was on top in the second set. A loss to Alcaraz would have resulted in Fritz taking command of the group and could have opened the door for Sinner to regain No. 1 by facing Alcaraz in the semi-finals.
But, with her back against the wall in the second set, Alcaraz managed to win a series of stunning points to stay alive before pouncing on a miss from Fritz as she lost serve at 5–6. The American, who would also regret the net-cord at 0-15 in that decisive game, then ran out of gas in the decisive game.
“It was pretty tough. I think I was running more than him. I was fighting more than him,” Alcaraz said. “I think in the first set, I didn’t serve well, and I think he was playing really smoothly, from the baseline, with everything.”
“After the win I was really relieved because I went through everything physically during the match. I wasn’t feeling the ball that well in the first round, but I’m really happy that I found a way to fight, found out her weaknesses. Really happy that I got the win in the end.”
Alcaraz has not won a year-end No. 1 title since she was a teenager in 2022, following her first Grand Slam title at the US Open. Alcaraz will also have to face the home crowd as he faces Musetti, although he leads their head-to-head 6-1 and has won their last six meetings.
“It’s going to be a really big match for me,” Alcaraz said. “I’ll try not to get nervous [affect me].I will try to control emotions, control myself.
“I’ll try to think about how to feel better than today with shots, with sets, with everything, but obviously it’s going to be a big day. So right now I’ll just enjoy this win. I’ll try to rest as much as I can to be ready for the next match.”
Alcaraz and Fritz were meeting for the fourth time in the second half of the season and the American was close to scoring his second win against the world No. 1 following his victory at the Laver Cup two months earlier. The quality was high throughout, with Tim Henman calling it one of the “top five” matches of the year.
“The two best players in the world are going head-to-head and giving it their all,” Henman said. sky sports“Right from the start, the quality, the intensity, the ball striking was amazing.
“Alcaraz, we just heard him talking about the relief of finding a solution against Fritz, he was a little self-critical, but I think most of it was about the quality of Fritz.
“Whenever he got a chance to pull the trigger, he just went for his shots, and Alcaraz was against it for most of that match.”