Jannik Sinner's string of victories, unbeaten in 2024, stops at 19 and his assault on number 2 in the ATP world rankings fades away. The blue was defeated in three sets by Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinal of the Masters 1000 tournament in Indian Wells , California, at the end of a match experienced on and off.
After a suspension of about three hours due to rain, Sinner needed 36 minutes to close the score at 6-1. In the stands, numerous VIPs, including Bill Gates and Charlize Theron, applauded the Italian's winning shots. In the second set, however, Alcaraz regained his concentration and changed tactics, managing to reduce the number of unprovoked errors . The match was rebalanced: the Spaniard made a break and took the lead to 3-1, Sinner had more opportunities to make a counter-break but missed them. Alcaraz thus managed to close the set 6-3.
In the third set the situation was reversed with the young talent from Murcia who took control of the game. Sinner also suffered from discomfort in his left calf, a blow to the elbow after a recovery at the net, which left him in pain, and too many unprovoked errors (38, of which 27 were with forehands) . Alcaraz then had an easy time closing the set with a clear 6-2.
Sinner could have his revenge already in the next few days: both are in fact registered for the Masters 1000 tournament in Miami and, after Novak Djokovic's withdrawal, they will only be able to meet in the final. But first Alcaraz will play for the Indian Wells title against the Russian Daniil Medvedev, who beat the American Tommy Paul 1-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2 in the other semifinal .
«I have been positive throughout this series of victories, I remain positive even now, because I lost in the semifinals of Indian Wells, which is still an excellent result. Now, the next tournament is Miami. So I'm already focused on Miami," Sinner said after the match. "It's certainly hard for everything to end like this here because for me this is a really special place to play." «Alcaraz? You're always impressed when you play against him, he moves very, very quickly. Especially on this pitch, where the ball bounces very high, it's not easy to play against him, because he can play with a lot of spin."
(Unioneonline/D)