Carlos Alcaraz gave an honest assessment of his semifinal defeat to familiar foe Jannik Sinner at the China Open.
On his debut appearance at the National Tennis Center in Beijing, where Alcaraz recently spoke of his pride in gracing the same venue that was once Rafael Nadal's stomping ground at the Olympic Games, the 20-year-old fell short in his quest to reach his ninth final of the season.
Alcaraz partially looked nervy from the head-spinning hype that engulfed the build-up to the match in which he lost in straight sets to Sinner. Having started the match brightly with an early break of serve, the Spaniard was lethargic and profligate, and ended up losing the first set in a tiebreak.
For all the talk of Sinner's physical conditioning ahead of the match, it was Alcaraz who was overwhelmed by the Italian's controlled power, leaving him bereft of ideas as the second set rapidly concluded after 44 minutes with Alcaraz dropping his serve three more times. Speaking after the match to estadiodeportivo, the two-time Grand Slam champion reiterated how missed opportunities proved decisive in the outcome.
"I think I played good tennis in the first set, trying to take advantage of my opportunities. But today it didn't work out. I had opportunities to get the second break in the first set. I didn't take advantage of it. Also other breaking points later. I didn't take advantage of them."
Alcaraz would have reduced Djokovic's lead in the ATP Race to just 270 points with a title win. But instead, that gap is now down to 580 points. And he maintains that his goal is to bridge that gap and get as close to the Serbian, who is taking a leave of absence from this year's Asian swing.
"We are going to try to do well to be as close as possible to Djokovic, to our goal."
0 Comments