New York, Sept. 8 (US): This was a never ending match. It should not end, one might say.
Carlos Alcars and Janic Sener, two of the brightest young stars in men’s tennis, exchanged shots of the highest quality and infinite momentum swung across five £5 sets for 5 hours and 15 minutes until Alcaraz finally won the final point at 2:50 am on Thursday, The latest achievement in the history of the US Open.
It was “only” a quarter-final, and there was no tournament at stake, but it was as exciting as this tournament produced, or more likely, a solid round of big cuts in the full sprint and plenty of guts, 6-3, 6-7 (7 ), 6-7 (0), 7-5, 6-3 victory for the No. 3 seed Alcaraz, 19 of Spain, The Associated Press reports.
“Honestly I still don’t know how I did it,” said Alcaraz, who saved match point in the fourth set.
He also used words like “unbelievable” and “amazing.” There is no exaggeration there.
Alcaraz, whose five-set victory over 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic ended at 2:23 a.m. on Tuesday, reached the semi-finals for the first time in a Grand Slam and is the youngest player to reach this far at the US Open since Pete won Sampras won the title at the age of nineteen. in 1990.
Alcaraz, who has a chance of moving up to number one in the rankings next week, will face 22nd seed Frances Tiafoe of the United States on Friday.
This match started on Wednesday night at around 9:45pm and easily passed the previous mark for the last time at the US Open, which was 2:26am, shared by three matches.
“I always say you have to believe in yourself all the time,” Alcaraz said. “Hope is the last thing you lose.”
After his usual three-set win over Andrei Rublev in the quarter-finals that ended at around 4:45pm on Wednesday, Tiafoe was somewhat insightful when asked about Alcaraz and Sener.
“I just hope they play a marathon match, a very long match, and they get really tired on Friday,” Tiafoe said with a smile.
It was already past 2 a.m. when Coco Gauff, the 18-year-old American who was a French Open runner-up and knocked out in the US Open quarter-finals on Tuesday, spoke on behalf of anyone who cares about Alcaraz vs. Sener when she tweeted: “This match Crazy. I leave at 6 am for the airport but I refuse to sleep and I miss this. #Sinner #Alcaraz”
However, even with thousands upon thousands of empty seats, there were enough who remained on hand to make the same amount of noise as an occasional full house. Both players were waving their rackets or moving their arms to encourage the crowd to raise their voice. And, of course, fans will be required.
It was back and forth as much as possible. The highlights were too many to list. Only one point: Alcaraz won by one after Rally extended his racket behind his back to make contact with the ball. Again: Alcaraz fell to his butt, then got up to race a backhand hit that won the point.
After taking the first set, Alcaraz held five set points in the second – but Sinner saved them all.
In the third inning, Alcaraz broke to lead 6-5 and served in that set—but Sinner broke to force the tiebreak he dominated.
In the fourth, it was Sener who served to win 5-4, he even came close to the winning point there – but Alcaraz broke there and ended up pushing what was already a masterpiece to the fifth.
And in the fifth inning, after another memorable shot—a backhand pass winner past Sinner’s outstretched arm—to earn a break point and a chance to lead 5-3, Alcaraz put a finger in his ear.
He will change that opportunity, then serve it. When the end reached, the preacher fell on his back, his chest rising, and he covered his face with his hand.