Perhaps this 2021 will end up being a very fond memory for Spanish tennis. It could be, only time will tell, the year of the emergence of a new phenomenon called Carlos Alcaraz. The 18-year-old pearl from Murcia has already achieved milestones such as sneaking into the final draws of Roland Garros and Wimbledon for the first time or opening her record of victories in the greats. And this Saturday he knocked down another wall, sealing the ticket to his first ATP final at the expense of the Catalan Albert Ramos, whom he defeated in the semifinals of Umag (Croatia), where he proves a seeded condition hitherto unknown to him, by 6- 2 and 7-6 (3) in two hours. He is the youngest player to reach the final round in an ATP tournament since Kei Nishikori at Delray Beach 2008, when the Japanese was also 18 years old.
The game went awry early for Ramos, the first major rival that Alcaraz managed to defeat in his short career (it happened last year in Rio de Janeiro). The 33-year-old veteran, who ranks 43rd in the rankings, was outmaneuvered by a torrent of youth and cheek. Alcaraz, again with a bulky bandage on his right arm, was a rock from the bottom and forced a deuce that ended up transforming into a break with a left that licked the tape.
He then confirmed the break before getting another one, also consolidated. With a comfortable 4-0 in favor, he just needed solidity in his service shifts. He showed it. With 67% of the first and 75% of points won with them, Ramos could never manufacture a break opportunity and delivered the first set 6-2 in exactly 40 minutes, unable to make a single point in the last game.
In the second set, same trend. The Barcelona player was unable to catch a flight either. Alcaraz continued to dictate the pace and repelled most of his attacks. In the first game he flipped a 30-15 to 30-40 and, smelled the blood, as the sharks came back to bite. Break. Only the honor of Ramos in a fifth eternal game, with four breaking balls wasted by Alcaraz, prevented further bleeding.
By then it seemed that the one from El Palmar had won the mental battle against his rival, who came to utter an expletive (“Not a b … ball I played well”). But Ramos held on to the track and managed to make it 3-3. Later, two more breaks, one per head, and finally a tie break in which Alcaraz excelled. Today (20:00) he will play for his first ATP title against Frenchman Gasquet, the executioner of Austrian Altmaier (7-6 (2), 3-6 and 6-3) whom he has never faced.