Carlos Alcaraz
Carlos Alcaraz defeated Jannik Sinner 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 to end the Italian’s 19-match winning streak and advance to the BNP Paribas Open final on Saturday night.
Alcaraz retained his world No. 2 ranking with the victory and extended his winning streak to 11 matches at Indian Wells, where he’ll play fourth-seeded Daniil Medvedev in today’s title match. It’s a rematch of last year’s final, won by Alcaraz in straight sets.
Medvedev outlasted 17th-seeded American Tommy Paul 1-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2. Paul was up a set and 3-2 in the second-set tiebreaker when he rolled his left ankle and Medvedev took control.
Sinner led 2-1 in the first set when the match was suspended for more than three hours because of rain in the Southern California desert. Rain also affected the women’s semifinals on Friday night.
Sinner went on to dominate the first set before Alcaraz changed his tactics. The Spaniard started coming to the net more and moving Sinner up and back.
“I had to change my game a little bit in the second set, that was a good thing for me, to change my style a little bit,” Alcaraz said. “I changed the return position, and that’s why I gave myself a chance to put more balls in play so I could wait for my chances (to attack).”
Sinner could have knocked Alcaraz out of the second spot with a win. He had won 19 matches in a row dating to last year, including 16 straight this year.
Alcaraz earned the only break of the second set in the fourth game with a forehand drop volley winner. He faced a break point on his serve in the seventh game, but shook it off eventually served out the set.
Alcaraz broke Sinner in the third and fifth games of the third. The players were blasting the ball from both sides and attacking the net, which made for several entertaining and sharply angled volley exchanges.
Alcaraz led 40-love on his serve for his first match point when he netted a backhand. Sinner’s smash dashed Alcaraz’s second match point before the Spaniard closed it out with a forehand crosscourt winner.
Sinner had 38 unforced errors to 24 for Alcaraz and the Italian had 21 winners to 19 for Alcaraz.
“I was too predictable at some points,” Sinner said. “I think that’s the lesson for today. We will work on certain things, and hopefully I will get better.” MDT/AP
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