Carlos Alcaraz stunned defending champion Hubert Hurkacz to advance to the final at the Miami Masters on Friday evening.
With his 7-6(5), 7-6(2) victory, the Spaniard has reached the biggest final of his young career, going one better than his semi-final run at Indian Wells two weeks ago.
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“I have a lot of emotions right now. It’s something that you dream of when you are a child,” said Alcaraz, who is one win away from becoming the youngest champion in the tournament’s 37-year history.
.@alcarazcarlos03 is pulling out all the tricks!@MiamiOpen | #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/8RqxAZbGW6
— ATP Tour (@atptour) April 2, 2022
“It’s really good to be in the final here in Miami. I love playing here,” he added.
“The crowd is amazing. I’m going to approach the final like a first round, trying to mask the nerves. I’m going to enjoy it, it’s going to be a great final.”
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Alcaraz trailed 3-5 in the first set tie-break, but repeated his heroics from Thursday’s quarter-final win against Miomir Kecmanovic by winning four straight points to close it out.
After erasing two break points at 5-all in the second set, Alcaraz controlled the second tie-break with help from some untimely Hurkacz errors.
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A drop shot at 5-2 set up match point, and a dipping pass attempt forced a volley into the net to close out the match.
But this was far from a standard matchup of baseline blasts as both men attacked the net with regularity, a total of 47 times between them, with both posting a 70 per cent win rate.
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Alcaraz also hit 16 drop shots in the match, winning 11 of those points (69 per cent).
“Definitely he’s playing insane for his age,” Hurkacz said following the match.
“It’s really incredible how he plays, how he competes… He has an amazing career in front of him. It’s crazy how good he plays.”
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Earlier in the tournament, Alcaraz defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas and Marin Cilic in straight sets.
Casper Ruud, another first-time ATP Masters 1000 finalist, awaits in Sunday’s final following his 6-4, 6-1 win over Francisco Cerundolo.
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