2023-04-21 18:58:18
Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz qualified for the semi-finals of the Barcelona Tennis Championships, by defeating his compatriot Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.
Sharjah 24 – Asaad Khalil:
The Spanish champion Carlos Alcaraz, the defending champion, and the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, ranked fifth in the world, reached the semi-finals of the Barcelona Tennis Tournament, with the first difficult victory over his compatriot Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, and the second over Australian Alex. De Minor 6-4, 6-2.
Alcaraz has recently suffered from pain in his hand and back, which forced him to withdraw from the Monte Carlo tournament last week, in preparation for the French Roland Garros championship scheduled for next month.
And Alcaraz had great difficulty overcoming his compatriot, after he broke his opponent’s serve in the first half, the latter responded to the salute and managed to equalize 3-3.
Alcaraz returned to lead again 5-4, and the serve was in his possession to settle the first set in his favor, but his opponent forced him into a playoff round, which Alcaraz won with difficulty.
Alcaraz advanced 3-1 in the second, and Fokina equalized 4-4, but the last word was for the first, who broke his opponent’s serve in the tenth game to win the match.
In the semi-finals, Alcaraz will meet the winner of the Argentine match, Francisco Sirondolo, and the British Danny Evans.
On the other hand, Tsitsipas, ranked second in the tournament, will next meet Italian Lorenzo Musetti, who qualified without playing after his compatriot Yannick Sinner withdrew due to illness.
The Greek confirmed his absolute superiority over De Minor (19th in the world), achieving his ninth victory over his opponent in nine confrontations.
Tsitsipas previously reached the Barcelona tournament final in 2018 and 2021, losing both times to Spaniard Rafael Nadal.
The Greek hopes to compensate for the disappointment of the Monte Carlo Masters tournament, which he crowned in the previous two years, when his career ended at the quarter-finals a few days ago.
In a related context, Siner said in a tweet on his Twitter account: I am sad to withdraw from my match today in Barcelona, I have not been feeling well for a few days and today it has gotten worse, I am not able to play, I will take some time to rest and recover.
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