Alcaraz cold suffers but progresses in Cincinnati | sports

He continues to search for the best feelings of Carlos Alcaraz, who despite his hard-fought victory over Thompson in the second round, seeded 55th in classification, (7-5, 4-6 & 6-3), doesn’t feel comfortable on the American hard court. The owner of the number one barely celebrated the victory, worried that the big event in New York is approaching and the match is not with him. This time it wasn’t helped by the stands at Cincinnati’s Center Court, which emptied in the initial rain. Nevertheless, El Morcian has achieved his 50th victory of the season and awaits a challenger in the round of 16 in Cincinnati where he can once again face his tormentors from Canada, Tommy Paul or France’s Ugo Humbert.

The game had not had two matches even when it was interrupted by rain, which although light mainly affected the final results, the most points of which slip away and can cause injuries. When it appeared the rain had stopped, it would be emptied again and this would result in an intermission of more than twenty minutes. Before waiting, Thompson and Alacáraz laughed. It is said that in bad weather a good flip was done and that Carlitos did, joining the waves that made the terraces, which at the time were very lively.

Once the match resumed, Number One got serious and walked out willingly. But the rush did not help because in just four matches he added 13 unintentional errors, and due to two double faults he allowed Thompson to break his serve. Memories of Canada returned and he had no choice but to find solutions. He found them in the next game, capitalizing on the Australian’s nerves, and after nine chances, restarted the second half, putting the score at 4-4.

The guy laughed at El Palmar, who despite continuing to be uncomfortable and erratic on his summer hard court tour, was helped by Thompson’s tennis and emotional instability. Alcaraz unleashed his power as his balls began to run at the end and he connected the winning shots. And when he was quieter and calmer on the court, he won the first set 7-5 after more than an hour and 40 minutes due to rain.

The second sleeve passed without incident, the two maintained serve and the tempo was slow, with almost no exchanges. To which some terraces were added after the rain turned cold. This environment in an almost empty stadium, it was twelve o’clock at night in Cincinnati, did not help Alcaraz who needed to burn people to get complicated matches for him and Almurcian came out in this way losing the second set by 6 to 4 in an environment devoid of spirit.

However, despite all the ups and downs that the Spaniard has gone through in these two tournaments, he is not going to give up. The main goal is to reach the US Open in the best conditions, but Carlitos goes out to win every tournament, so he started with a different face and attitude in the last round and broke the Australian’s serve in the first match. “Fight!” Juan Carlos Ferrero asked. , absent in Canada but now back in the United States. Obedient and focused, the former player’s pupil showed character, leaving behind offenses and closing the match in three sets (7-5, 4-6 and 6-3), adding the 50th win of the year and taking one more step towards the goal of reaching the US Open as number one. .

You can follow EL PAÍS Sports on Facebook And Twitteror register here to receive Weekly newsletter.