Carlos Alcaraz continues to demonstrate at the Winston-Salem tournament the great moment of form that he is going through before making his debut in the final draw of the US Open. The Murcian tennis player is already in the semifinals of the Winston-Salem tournament after beating the American Marcos Giron in the quarterfinals by 7-6 (2) and 6-2. They will be Alcaraz’s third semi-finals on the ATP Tour after reaching this round this season at the Marbella and Umag tournaments (in the latter he won the title) and the first he will play on hard court.
The match started well for Alcaraz, who used his aggressive tennis to break Giron’s serve, although the American recovered the break in the next game. Despite the numerous break options available to the Murcian (he took advantage of 4 of the 12 he had and saved 3 of 5 against), both Alcaraz and Giron managed to keep their services, so the first round went to the tie. break. In the tiebreaker Alcaraz broke Giron’s serve twice and, despite not being able to close the sleeve with the first set ball he had, he did so with the second to the rest to win 7-2 in the tie-break.
This gave Alcaraz wings to face the second round where, after an even start with the two tennis players maintaining their serves, the Murcian achieved two consecutive breaks to get 5-1 in favor and serve to win. Nerves played a trick on him Alcaraz, who lost his serve with a blank game although he managed rebuild to close the game to the rest with another blank game and with the first match ball that he had 6-2.
Alcaraz himself was very excited after his victory in the post-match interview and assured that he is feeling very comfortable on the court. “I thought from the first round that I might be able to win the tournament. I think I have the game and I’m playing very, very well. I feel very comfortable on the court. I am very happy to play my first semi-final of an ATP hard court tournament, I am looking forward to playing. “
In the semifinals of the tournament Alcaraz will face one of the surprises of the tournament, the Swede Mikael Ymer, who had to come back to overcome the American Frances Tiafoe in three sets by 6-7 (2), 6-2 and 6-3. It will be the second time that Alcaraz meets Ymer on the ATP circuit and this time the Murcian hopes to take the victory, since in the previous Australian Open Ymer won in four sets 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 and 7-6 (5). “I already played with him once in Australia. He beat me, but I think I’m ready and I hope to win. Everyone knows he’s a great player, very tough, but I’m ready for this battle. I played with him in Australia but now I am more prepared than then “, assures Alcaraz, who is looking for a place in the final to fight for his first title on the ATP circuit on hard court.