Carlos Alcaraz reaches first grand slam semifinal after marathon, late-night finish against Jannik Sinner
Former two-time Wimbledon finalist Carlos Alcaraz reached his first grand slam semifinal on Friday night and his first since the French Open at Roland Garros in 2015.
In doing so, Alcaraz becomes the first player from Colombia to reach a grand slam final since the Open era began in 1968.
The 29-year-old Alcaraz, who was born in Medellin, had been playing a steady program on clay to build serve-and-volley power and break points against Sinner, who went out in the third set at 4-3 in only his second grand slam match.
“It was a long match with a lot of ups and downs. I didn’t even know he was going to come back after me in the third set, so I was just trying to do everything on the day,” said Alcaraz, who was playing a new coach this time around.
It’s also a new coach for the former junior champion, who made his first grand slam debut at the U.S. Open just one year ago.
The two-time French junior champion said he always had faith in the 23-year-old Sinner, who has been the top player on Colombia since he took up tennis as a seven-year-old.
“This is the next player coming into my life, trying to break into the top 10. I tried to tell him like I always do from the start, and he listened and followed me,” said Alcaraz.
“He’s such a talented, good player, one of the best in the world, but we both need a coach. He listens to that, and he follows me. He gave himself a good opportunity. Maybe he saw that I had a good game and it’s going to help him a lot.”
After making eight break points in the opening set, Alcaraz broke Sinner back in the second game, but Sinner came back for a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (2), 7-5 (3) win and had his first service game of the match when he served out at 5-