Madrid Open knows the composition of the first semi-final. Will Alcaraz take the last two steps to defend last year’s triumph?

Carlos Alcaraz entered the tournament as a hot favourite and he is fulfilling his role so far. He also made it through Wednesday’s quarterfinals and will play Croatia’s Coric for the final. How difficult should the semi-finals be for the home tennis player?

Previous matches at the tournament

Alcaraz, the defending champion of last year’s triumph, entered his home tournament a little timidly. He lost the first set against Ruusuvuori (41st in the ATP rankings). He won the next two 6::4 and 6::2. But after that, “Carlito” didn’t lose a single set. He defeated Dimitrov (32nd in the world), Zverev (16th in the ATP ranking) and in the last duel so far Russian Kachanov (12th in the world).

In the duel with the Russian, Alcaraz won the first set thanks to a break in the seventh game. In the second set he was already down 2::5, his best game was when he was put on the defensive. Once again, he brought the home fans to a boil many times. He managed to take the set with four games won in a row. The home hero went 2: 0 on sets.

The Croatian Borna Coric is the 20th player in the ATP rankings and has not lost a set in Madrid so far. With a 2: 0 set win he went past Frenchman Gaston (106th on the ATP), world No. 15 Hurkacz of Poland and on Wednesday night the German Altmaier (92nd on the ranking).

Čorić could always rely on the high percentage of points won after his first serve. So far, he also boasts an excellent ratio between winning balls and unforced errors. Leaving aside the most challenging duel in the Spanish capital, in which he was opposed by another Spaniard – Davidovich Fokina, the Croatian has not lost his serve even once.

In the aforementioned match, Čorić really sweated the most. He lost the first set in the tiebreak. However, he started the second set with a break and won it 6::3. The third was again decided by a shortened game and the Croatian tennis player won it for himself with a 7::5 ratio. It was really a lucky victory, with a 5::5 tiebreak even helping the later winner to a piggy bank.

The semifinal match

In the semifinals, Čorić will face an even better home tennis player. Alcaraz has a great weapon in shortening the game. “Carlito” is excellent at disguising the fact that he is about to hit his precision shot. Cilic knows the shorts will come, but it will still be very hard to counter that tactic.

The Croatian will certainly try to get points out of his serve. He already boasts 15 aces in the tournament. On the other hand, the home player has produced even more and the Spaniard with the home support at his back will be the clear favourite for Friday’s match.

Source: ATP