Sure of his strength, world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz serenely reached the quarter-finals in Miami, as did his main rival Daniil Medvedev, Elena Rybakina also easily reaching the women’s semi-finals on Tuesday.
A week after his triumph in Indian Wells, the 19-year-old Spanish phenomenon continues his merry way in Florida, where he is defending champion and still in the running for the “Sunshine Double”, a double the same year achieved before him by Jim Courier, Michael Chang, Pete Sampras, Marcelo Rios, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
On his way, he dismissed without trembling 6-4, 6-4 the American Tommy Paul (19th). His ninth victory in a row, including eight in straight sets – one of them having been obtained after his opponent abandoned at 6-2, 2-0 in his favor –. “I’m happy with my performance, because he’s a tough player to beat. I had to put out my best tennis. The key is that I didn’t stop attacking, I didn’t let take the initiative,” commented Alcaraz.
The prodigy from Murcia has indeed made his power speak (24 winning shots against 9). He was also effective on the fly (12/13, or 92%), while mastering the applied art of cushioning. The few times he was pushed to his limits, “Carlitos” took out his shots from elsewhere, such as this short passing pass crossed backwards, which made Paul smile with spite.
– Authoritarian sinner –
The winner of the US Open 2022 will face Taylor Fritz, an easy 6-3, 6-4 winner of Holger Rune (8th). The 25-year-old American was very realistic in key moments, as he erased five of the six break points the 18-year-old Dane got. And he converted three of the four opportunities to rob him of the service game.
It was around 1:30 a.m. (local time), because of the rain that fell in the evening which caused the interruption of the meetings for almost four hours, that Daniil Medvedev (5th) punched his ticket. Before the late hour, he hastened to get rid of Frenchman Quentin Halys (79th) 6-4, 6-2 in 1 h 10 min, without giving him the slightest break point to get his teeth into.
The Russian, who joins the quarters for the third year in a row, will try to finally overtake them against the unexpected American Christopher Eubanks (119th), which will be the first at this stage of a Masters 1000.
At the start of the day, Jannik Sinner was authoritarian to sweep 6-2, 6-4 Andrey Rublev (7th). Sharper, the 21-year-old Italian, semi-finalist in Indian Wells, never left the slightest opportunity to break the Russian, finishing his match with 29 winning shots and only two unforced errors.
“I executed my game plan very well. I had to seize the opportunities it was going to give me and I did it”, rejoiced the finalist of the event in 2021, who will face the Finn Emil Ruusuvuori (54th).
– Tsitsipas eliminated –
Stefanos Tsitsipas (3rd) was eliminated 7-6, (7/4), 6-4 by Karen Khachanov (16th), revenge since the Greek had beaten him in the semi-finals at the Australian Open. But since his lost final in Melbourne, the latter has had to do with shoulder pain that has stopped his momentum.
Among the women, Elena Rybakina (7th) crushed 6-3, 6-0 the Italian Martina Trevisan (24th), to reach the last four of the event for the first time.
Like Alcaraz, the Indian Wells winner can pull off the ‘Sunshine Double’ which only four players have managed: Steffi Graf twice, Kim Clijsters, Victoria Azarenka and Iga Swiatek.
The 23-year-old Kazakh, who is now 12 consecutive victories, has never trembled, recording a real rise in power after a delicate start to the tournament. She had indeed had to erase a match point in the 3rd round, before knocking down the Spaniard Paula Badosa.
The 2022 Wimbledon champion and runner-up in Melbourne in January relied in particular on her excellent serve, her ten aces now making 201 since the start of the year, the best total on the circuit.
She will be opposed to the American Jessica Pegula (3rd), who had to save two match points before defeating the Russian Anastasia Potapova (26th) 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/2) .
