Carlos Alcaraz did not play a perfect match but he did enough to advance to the Umag final securing a new career high in the process.
The rise of Carlos Alcaraz started in Umag last year as the Spaniard won his maiden trophy here. Tomorrow he'll contest for another Umag trophy as he was able to beat Giulio Zeppier in a very tricky matchup 7-5 4-6 6-2 moving on to the final.
This match was quite significant for Alcaraz as it ensured a new career high ranking for him at number 4 on Monday. He can solidify his ranking even more by winning the event which was the goal. It was a decent match and tightly contested in the opening set. Zeppieri proved himself capable of playing great tennis against a better opponent.
Alcaraz had an early 4-2 lead but Zeppire fought back to make it 5-4. The Italian had set point (3) in that game but Alcarza held to win the game and then the set 7-5. The 2nd set was another close one but midway through Alcarza rolled his ankle on a slide that left him grimacing in pain. He took an MTO to tape it and continued playing but struggled with his movement.
Zeppieri used that to his advantage taking the 2nd set 6-3. The final set saw Alcaraz get comfortable again finding a way to deal with obvious discomfort due to his ankle. He took an early break and then added another one for the 3-0 lead but allowed the Italian to battle back to 3-3. And then he closed the match 6-3. A proper roller coaster but he moves on to the final.
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