The defending champion at the 2022 Croatia Open, Carlos Alcaraz, was bested in the final of this year's ATP 250 tournament in Umag by an inspired Jannik Sinner.
This was a very interesting matchup because these two youngsters played against each other at the Wimbledon Championships not long ago. The Italian won that match, and he was able to win this match in a truly spectacular manner.
The opening set did not resemble a clay match at all, with both players dominating on their serve. Fans in Umag did not see a single break point in the opening set, and it was decided in a tie-break.
It started with both winning points on their serve, as they both served really well. At one point, Alcaraz hit two spectacular returns, which completely turned to score in his favor.
Sinner was able to reduce his deficit from 2-5 to 5-6, and he played a superb point, but Alcaraz returned an incredible attack by Sinner that won him a 'lost' point and secured the first set in the tie-break, 7-5.
The Spaniard had a chance to break early at the start of the second set as he had a 40-0 lead on Sinner's serve. He had six break points in total in that game, but he couldn't convert either.
His game completely collapsed after that as Sinner won five games in a row to win the second set 6-1 and force the decider in Umag. It was an incredible set from the Italian while his opponent struggled to find his footing.
Sinner was the better player from the baseline, and that continued in the final set as well. Alcaraz simply had no response as Sinner shined. The Italian went on to secure the trophy in Umag, winning the final match 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-1.
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