Alcaraz Plays Best Grass Match Of His Career Against Korda To Reach First Final

| by Zachary Wimer

Carlos Alcaraz once again proved why he's so good, beating Sebastian Korda to reach the 2023 Cinch Championships final.

Entering the ATP 500 tournament at the Queen's Club, the 20-year-old Spaniard had only two grass-court tournaments behind his belt. Both were in London, but they were in the famous All England Club as he participated at Wimbledon twice.

Entering this year's grass-court season, after last year's breakthrough was something new for Alcaraz, but once again he proved that he's able to learn at an incredible pace, probably faster than any other competitor on the ATP Tour.

Already after his second-round victory, the Spaniard changed his expectations, but it wasn't until the quarterfinals that he faced an actually good grass-court player in Grigor Dimitrov. The youngster easily beat the Bulgarian, setting up a semifinal match with Sebastian Korda, who is probably even better grass-court player.

After one of his wins at the Queen's Club, the American said that he considers himself one of the Wimbledon favourites, and he had a chance to prove that against the top seed at the tournament as the two met for the fourth time, including their NextGen ATP Finals match, with the Spaniard winning two of the previous meetings.

Korda started the match well, breaking his opponent's serve immediately, but he struggled on his first service game. The American hit three double faults, allowing his opponent to immediately break back.

WATCH: Alcaraz Practices Shortly After His Match At Queen's Club
WATCH: Alcaraz Practices Shortly After His Match At Queen's Club

The next few games were nervous and intense from both players, as they both had multiple chances to break. But it wasn't until the eighth game when the first-seeded Spaniard broke his opponent's serve to eventually seal the first set, 6-3.

The second set was even better from Alcaraz. This time, he didn't allow his opponent to do anything on his serve, and even though Korda hit 71% of his first serves, he faced a break point and that was enough for Alcaraz to secure a one-break lead.

Controlling the match from that moment, the World No. 2 showed his incredible skill to win the match 6-3, 6-4, and reach his first grass-court final at the 2023 Cinch Championships, taking on Alex de Minaur from Australia.

"I'm playing great, I'm feeling great. I'm really happy to be playing here in Queen's. Since the first match, I feel the love from the crowd. It's impossible to win this kind of matches without them, without the energy, it has been amazing. And I'm really happy to play my first final on grass."

Speaking about his movement, which has been a problem early on during the grass-court season, the Spaniard said that it improved faster than he expected, feeling like he's been playing on the surface for ten years.

"I'm getting better, I'm feeling better every match that I'm playing. Right now, I feel like I'm playing for 10 years on grass, it's something crazy for me. I didn't expect my movement to improve so fast on the grass."

If he wins the final, Alcaraz would become the new World No. 1, overtaking Novak Djokovic once more, and he would also be the top seed at Wimbledon.

"Honestly, at the beginning of the week, I didn't know that I could become world number one. But when I won yesterday, in the press conference they told me, and I was like oh my god, it's an extra motivation. So it's in my mind, and I will go for it. It's a dream being a top seed at Wimbledon."

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