By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday August 17, 2023
Carlos Alcaraz and Tommy Paul are getting to know each other very well these days. And tennis fans should consider themselves lucky for that.
For the second time in as many weeks, the pair met in a high-stakes Masters 1000 event, and this time it was the Spaniard exacting his revenge, 7-6(6), 6-7(0), 6-3, in the match of the week at the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati.
"He has earned it this year that he deserve to be in the top," Alcaraz said. I mean, today was really tough with the conditions as well. It was a really windy day. We got to adapt whole game. But I think we played a great match. But this time came to my side, and I'm really happy about that."
There is something combustible about the matchup. Paul, a gifted athlete, has the plus movement and punchy power to befuddle Alcaraz, where most other top players seem a bit out of their league against the high-flying Spaniard.
After coming through 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 last week in quarterfinal action in Toronto, Paul was ruffling the feathers of his foe once again on Thursday at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, but Alcaraz took the punches and hit back, producing thrilling tennis throughout to prevail in one of the wildest, most memorable matches of the yeaer.
The 20-year-old looked to be headed for a straight sets victory but Paul the pugilist stood firm in the middle set, saving a trio of match points in a 15-minute game to hold for 6-all, before he trampled through the second-set breaker without dropping a point.
Script flipped? Not quite...
Undeterred, Alcaraz hit back in a final set that featured three separate – and one prolonged – rain delay, and made the only break of the set stand tall as he swept away with the victory in three hours and 13 minutes.
Alcaraz’s fourth match point came three hours and 15 minutes after the first as the pair were forced to wait out rain with more than half of the set played (at 4-3 and again at 5-3) It was all worth the wait for Alcaraz, who improves to 51-5 on the season and 2-2 lifetime against Paul.
"It was a really tough match,” Alcaraz said of the close contest. “We were playing a really close match before the rain came. But I think I did pretty well [dealing with] the wait in the gym, warming up," said the World No.1.
"I told everyone that I really wanted [to win], since I lost in Toronto. I came here in Cincinnati and I'm really happy with the level. I think I'm getting better and better. I'm really happy to be in the quarter-finals here."
Alcaraz will face Australian qualifier Max Purcell in the quarterfinals on Friday. He is bidding for his seventh title of 2023.
(June 7, 2012) -- Maria Sharapova returned to No. 1 in the world with a command performance against Petra Kvitova in the semifinals of Roland Garros this afternoon.