Spanish teen sensation beats his idol 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 to reach Madrid Open semi-finals
\n MADRID
\nCarlos Alcaraz overcame an injury scare on his way to a milestone victory over Rafael Nadal on Friday to set up a blockbuster semi-final against Novak Djokovic in Madrid.
\nAlcaraz entered the contest with a 0-2 record against Nadal, but the 35-year-old arrived in Madrid with little to no preparation on clay after six weeks nursing a rib injury.
\nIn an eventful quarter-final at the Caja Magica, the 19-year-old Alcaraz beat 21-time Grand Slam champion Nadal 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 for his 26th victory of the season.
\n\u201cIt means a lot to me, all the hard work that I put in every day paid off today to beat Rafa, beat the best player in history on clay, it means a lot to me,\u201d said Alcaraz, who is the first teenager to beat Nadal on a clay court.
\n\u201cIt affected me a lot the fall in the second set but when I lost the second, I went to the bathroom and I believed I was able to get back, I was able to do my best, try everything on court, fight until the last ball and I think it was the key.\u201d
\nThe first three games went against serve and lasted over 20 minutes before Alcaraz finally held for a 3-1 advantage. Nadal mustered just one more game in that set.
\nIn the third game of the second set, Alcaraz took a tumble trying to retrieve a ball and had a medical timeout at 1-2 to get his ankle taped. Replays showed Alcaraz had badly rolled his ankle.
\nNadal broke upon resumption before play was interrupted again for attention to someone in the crowd.
\nAfter a long pause, Nadal held and ran away with the set with Alcaraz visibly restricted in his movement.
\nAlcaraz moved better at the start of the decider after his toilet break, leaping to a 3-1 lead. He completed the win in two hours and 28 minutes and set up a clash with Djokovic.
\n\u201cI will text (David) Nalbandian to see how he did it. I will fight and let\u2019s see what happens tomorrow,\u201d joked Alcaraz, referring to Miomir Kecmanovic\u2019s coach David Nalbandian, who beat Nadal, Djokovic and Roger Federer on his way to the Madrid title in 2007.
\nDjokovic reached his seventh Madrid semi-final, easing past Pole Hubert Hurkacz 6-3, 6-4 to record a 30th career victory in the Spanish capital.
\nThe world number one will face Alcaraz for the first time and heaped praise on the young Spaniard, having spent some time with him practising earlier this week.
\n\u201cI love to watch him play, as a lot of other players on the tour. He\u2019s fantastic for our sport, no doubt. I think it\u2019s great that we have a young player who is doing so well and giving a new fresh breath to the tennis world,\u201d said Djokovic.
\n\u201cSeeing that and knowing that he\u2019s a very nice guy, very humble with good values, is a perfect combination.\u201d
\nHurkacz saved two match points on his own serve at 5-3 in the second set, forcing Djokovic to serve out for an 81-minute success. Djokovic has not competed much in 2022 as his vaccination status that has prevented him from playing in Australia or entering the United States. His win on Friday was just his seventh of the year. He\u2019ll be trying to make a second final of the season, having placed runner-up in Belgrade last month.
\nMonte Carlo champion Stefanos Tsitsipas squeezed past familiar foe Andrey Rublev 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 to record a tour-leading 27th match-win of the season.
\nThe 2019 Madrid runner-up edged ahead 5-4 in his head-to-head against Rublev and now awaits defending champion Alexander Zverev or Canadian eighth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in the semi-finals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Spanish teen sensation beats his idol 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 to reach Madrid Open semi-finals MADRID Carlos Alcaraz overcame an injury scare on his way to a milestone victory over Rafael Nadal on Friday to set up a blockbuster semi-final against Novak Djokovic in Madrid. Alcaraz entered the contest with a 0-2 record against Nadal, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259102,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-259139","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n