The Murcian Carlos Alcaraz Garfia He is already in the semifinals of the ATP 500 that takes place in Beijing after defeating the Norwegian in two sets Casper Ruud, world number 9 (6-4 and 6-2) in just one and a half hours of play. The El Palmar player has not given up, as he already did in this tournament with Lorenzo Musetti in the round of 16to continue advancing in his return after reaching the semifinals at the US Open.
In a tougher game than the scoreboard reflects, The rhythm of the ball imposed with his forehand by the world number 2 has ended the resistance of a more physically punished rival for the tough match he had against the Argentine Tomás Martín Etcheverry.
Comeback in the first set
The clash began with an endless first game, which lasted up to fifteen minutes and where the player Murcia He had up to five breaking balls that he failed to take advantage of. In the second he was surprised by Ruud, who broke his serve and went up to a disturbing 0-3. But then Alcaraz came to a boil, which he began to extract with great effectiveness. He recovered the break and equalized the duel to add five consecutive games, the last of them leaving his rival blank, as he also did in the tenth that gave him the first set.
Second most comfortable set
In the second set Ruud recovered his sensations, who scored the first game with his serve, but in the third came a break by Alcaraz that put him ahead on the scoreboard (2-1). The Murcian, solvent with his service, headed straight towards his 61st victory of the year for only seven defeats. Ruud raised a 0-40 in the seventh game, but a genius of the Murcian gave him the opportunity to break the serve again, something he achieved after going away a rest of the rival to place himself in this set with 5-2 and the opportunity to close the clash with his serve.
The game was closed by Alcaraz at the first opportunity, without giving Ruud the option of recovery, already surrendered to his fate.. The Murcian had two match points, but he only needed one since after a backhand slice, the Norwegian hit the ball into the net.
The Murcian will face the winner of the duel between Grigor Dimitrov and Jannik Sinner this Tuesday. On the other side of the draw, Daniil Medvedev needed three sets to beat Ugo Umbert. His rival in the semifinals will be Alexander Zverev, who defeated the Chilean Nicolas Jarry in a very tough match that also required three sets. The final is scheduled for Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.