As happened a year ago, Carlos Alcaraz will play the quarterfinals of the US Open.
The Spaniard withstood the onslaught of veteran Marin Cilic and emerged victorious from a tough match full of alternatives to become
the first player to repeat among the top eight in two consecutive editions of the tournament since Lew Hoad and Ken Rosewall did so at the start of the 50's of the last century
.
After winning 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 4-6 and 6-3, in three hours and 53 minutes, and will seek his first semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament against the Italian Jannik Sinner, who has overcome in their last two clashes.
Whole and resilient in the delicate moments of the match, also brilliant and daring, the champion this season in Miami, Madrid, Barcelona and Rio deepened his idyll with New York in the generational duel against the tournament champion in 2014. Cilic, 33 years, he demanded as no other rival had done in this edition, but he ended up captive of the charms of a kid who keeps alive all the stakes with which he arrived at the tournament.
Eliminated Medvedev, Nadal and Tsitsipas, he also aspires to storm the number 1
in the world, although it will be his compatriot who will hold it in case neither he nor Casper Ruud reach the final.
With his serve down, Marin Cilic loses much of his essence.
The Croatian, close to two meters, has accustomed us to a high percentage of firsts and an estimable number of
aces
.
It was not like that in a strange first set, where he stayed at 30%, troubled by foot faults.
Alcaraz started 0-2 down, but managed to ratify the superiority he had shown in the two matches against him this year: in Miami, where he won his first Masters 1000, and recently in Cincinnati.
with the highest rank
The Spaniard has left behind his discreet pre-tournament tour.
He started very well and it did not weigh him down to appear as the highest-ranking tennis player who is still in competition.
At the beginning of the night of this Tuesday he exhibited an overflowing joy.
Nothing was left inside.
Cilic, who continues to compete with dignity, managed to fine-tune with the opening blow and narrowed the margins of the match.
Alcaraz had it in his face, who started with a
break
in the second, but his opponent's reaction was impressive.
Cilic was a rock.
He easily won his serves and had the confrontation on his court, with a precise and direct game, which forced the Spaniard often against the current.
The Croatian equalized at one set and kept his balance until the tenth game of the third
when Alcaraz converted the rest on the third set point.
At 19 years old, the Spaniard continues to internalize experiences and knows how to choose better from his wide repertoire.
With Cilic outplaying him from the baseline at times, he used the slice backhand and net approaches to break his rhythm.
To the limit, the Croatian, semifinalist last spring at Roland Garros, bled with his right hand.
Alcaraz had a shorter path to victory: he had six break points in the fourth set
, two of them 4-3 up.
He did not certify them and was doomed to the fifth.
It was only the seventh game in which he consumed all five sets, but, despite starting by giving up his serve, he handled himself like an expert.
Only Matteo Berrettini, at the beginning of the course at the Australian Open, has managed to beat him in the long distance.
Quarter-finalist at Roland Garros and eighth-finalist at Wimbledon this season, he will look to break down a new frontier this Wednesday.
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tennis
Carlos Alcaraz
Rafael Nadal