There is a paradoxical tendency in the projection of Carlos Alcaraz:
as he becomes a more vulnerable player, he raises his rank on tour
.
This Monday he will appear fourth in the world, his best ranking, but he will do so after losing to Jannik Sinner, at the ATP 250 in Umag, his second consecutive final, after falling to another Italian, Lorenzo Musetti, a week ago in Hamburg.
This Sunday Sinner won 6-7 (5), 6-1 and 6-1, in two hours and 25 minutes.
Without worrying, if it is a wake-up call for an overwhelming tennis player in the first part of the season, on the eve of the Montreal and Cincinnati Masters 1000, prelude to the US Open.
Both in Umag and in Hamburg, he appeared as the top seed and a clear candidate for victory.
In both tournaments he appeared in the final, but offering signs of inconsistency against opponents of his generation who have far from quickened the pace to grow as he has.
It was like that against Musetti, with an erratic last game of the match at the service that condemned him to defeat.
And it was again yesterday, when,
after brilliantly winning the tiebreaker in the first set and having six break balls at the start of the second, he collapsed until conceding a 0-6 run
and seeing an opponent reborn that is not convenient make too many concessions.
One year and six days after winning the first title of his career in Umag, Carlos Alcaraz was unable to retain the victory.
From counting his first five finals by victories he has gone on to lose the last two
.
Jannik Sinner, 20 years old, stood up to the Spaniard in an excellent first set, where there was no room for break balls until it led to a
tie break
marked by Alcaraz's extra ingenuity.
Unlike last week in Hamburg, where he played magnificent matches, such as the quarterfinal against Karen Khachanov, Alcaraz was not doing well.
He suffered a lot in the semifinals against a practically unknown player, like the Italian Giulio Zeppieri.
Jannik Sinner, on the other hand, appeared in his first final on clay without having dropped a set and with the endorsement of the aforementioned victory against the Spaniard in the third round of Wimbledon.
Matched first quarter
Two champions of the Next Gen ATPFinals were cited, which Sinner won in 2019 and Alcaraz took in the last edition.
If the Italian did not consent to his service, Alcaraz showed the same degree of firmness.
The exchanges were brief, prevailing the decisive capacity of both from the serve
.
The first doubts arose in Sinner when he committed two consecutive double faults in the ninth game, with the score tied at four.
He managed to save him, not without difficulty.
They went to the tiebreaker.
And there the Spaniard made a difference, in particular in two points to the rest that placed him with a 4-1 advantage.
To begin with, a forehand return winner was played on an opponent's first serve.
Next, she combined dropshot and lob.
He had to add something else and so he did.
Qualitative mattress enough to take the set.
Alcaraz hinted that he would take the shortest path to the finish line when he created all six break points in the second game of the second set.
What seemed like a promise of happiness turned into a sentence.
They were saved by Sinner, who chained six consecutive games and equalized the game at a set.
An analogous situation was presented to Alcaraz in the third, with two options to be 3-1 and serve, which the Italian reversed to be the one to break and take the initiative
.
The Spaniard, annoyed, looked for the look of Antonio Martínez Cascales, who has relieved Juan Carlos Ferrero in his box this week.
He wasted all nine of his
break points
and gave up his serve three times.
Too many doubts against a Sinner, who played it in every return and whose hand did not shake this time.
The third set would be almost a replica of the second, with Alcaraz faded, victim of the determination and aggressiveness of a much superior opponent yesterday, with the weapons to argue with the great sensation of this season.
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Carlos Alcaraz