Berrettini faces Alcaraz, for Sinner there is Ruud (on TV from 2 pm)
Matteo has risen a little level, Carlos – who is not only power but gets along with ease even under the net and above all has a deadly short ball – has at least become playable.
The young Spaniard did not feel the weight of the pressure when he served at 4-5 and 5-6, keeping the rounds at zero and therefore a tie-break was necessary to settle the balance. In the third point a right sunk in the net, hitting too hard, was worth the mini-break for the blue, ready to extend to 4-1 and to add another mistake in law by his rival (5-2) to forfeit the fraction for 7 points to 2 and take the challenge to the third.
A set of great intensity, in which Alcaraz did not lose solidity, who in the fourth game removed the serve from the Roman (a bloody failed smash at 30-30), confirming the break (4-1). But in the sixth game the 18-year-old from El Palmar (Murcia) missed a backhand and two rights, granting the Capitoline the first break points of the match, with a double foul to give the counter-break.
Matteo completed the comeback (4-4) recovering from 15-30, and then at 4-5 30-30 he kept cool and cleared up going to take the 5-5, with an attack and smash, this time precise. Neither “Carlito” nor the blue have given up an inch and so to decree a winner another “jeu decisif” was needed.
A mini-break in the second point forced Berrettini to immediately chase the Spaniard, ahead 4 to 1 and then 6 to 3, the Roman canceled the first two match-points but on the third, on a solid first from Alcaraz, the his backhand response ended up on the tape.
On Saturday in the semifinals Alcaraz will find the German Alexander Zverev on the other side of the net, No. 4 in the ranking and 2 in the seeding: the 24-year-old from Hamburg won the only previous one in two series, in the first round of the ATP 500 in Acapulco.