The top two seeds at the 2024 China Open went head to head in the final of the event, and it was Carlos Alcaraz who proved better than Jannik Sinner in three brutal sets.
The China Open was a very interesting event with a couple of really interesting matches. The top two seeds at the event were Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, which meant that they could only meet each other in the final. After both played superb tennis all week long, that is what happened.
That final was played today, and it was a great match. Alcaraz was considered the minor favourite because he showed a somewhat higher level of tennis this week. They played in Beijing last year as well, only that time it was a semi-final. Sinner won that one in two sets, but the early points of this match showed that Alcaraz meant business.
He started very aggressively, hitting the ball extremely hard and taking it to Sinner. That resulted in early break chances, but he couldn’t convert them. He’s had some problems with that in the past, leaving many break points on the table often.
The Italian at times looked rather overwhelming, creating chances for himself, but ultimately it was Alcaraz who broke first, taking a 3-1 lead. He then made it 4-1 and, for the most part, kept it until 5-3 when he needed to serve it out. He failed because his serve went missing, and he was a sitting duck on his second.
A few deep and hard returns by Sinner did the trick, and Alcaraz was visibly frustrated. It was a momentum shift he didn’t need, and it was evident because he started to miss shots he was hitting with ease just a few games before that. Fans saw a tiebreak, in which Alcaraz had the lead a couple of times and even two set points.
He wasted all of them, though, as he just kept making mistakes over and over again and at the worst possible moments. Sinner really didn’t win that opening set; it was Alcaraz who lost it, multiple times.
Sinner was serving super well in the second set, much better than in the first, and it made all the difference. Alcaraz was still able to create break chances midway through, but he wasted both of them rather easily. He was 1/7 on break points up until that point, and that was a major problem for the Spaniard.
He also started to complicate games he shouldn’t have, especially at 4-3 when a 40-15 lead turned into a game where he had to save break points. Despite the minor struggles, Alcaraz was still able to find a way to break, and once he did, he held serve to win the second set 6-4.
The momentum shift was huge for Alcaraz as he was able to break early in the final set and hold for the 3-1 lead. He seemed completely in control of the match, finally playing some of the tennis we saw in the days before.
However, he lost the break allowing Sinner to get to 5-4 and then only two points away from winning the match. But Alcaraz held firm and then had a decent chance to break but didn't take it. The match eventually ended in yet another tiebreak with Sinner winning 18 of the last 19 tiebreaks he played.
Alcaraz fell behind 0-3 but then stormed back with some of the best tennis we've seen from him in a very long time. Sinner was good but not having the first serve hurt him a bit. The final score was 6-7(6), 6-3, 7-6(3) for Alcaraz who won the last seven points to win the match in three hours and 24 minutes.
0 Comments