ATP
Alcaraz snaps Sinner win streak in Indian Wells semi-final drama
Carlos Alcaraz handed on-fire Jannik Sinner a first defeat this season, with the Spaniard snapping the Italian’s 19-match win streak 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 on Saturday at the Indian Wells Masters.
Sinner came to the semi-final with 16 match wins this season and three at the end of 2023 but was finally toppled by his hottest rival in a tight battle paused for some rare poor weather in the Californian desert.
The opening set was interrupted midway through by what turned into a three-hour rain delay, with Sinner eventually sealing the set as he won the last five games.
World No. 2 Alcaraz managed to hold off the charging italian who won the Australian Open and Rotterdam titles this season, saving break points in the second set and advancing on his third match point of the third.
The victory in two hours of playing time prevented the third-ranked Sinner from passing Alcaraz lhim in the rankings – for now.
The pause for weather was a second in a row for Alcaraz, whose semi-final was infamously interrupted by a swarm of bees, the humane removal of which turned a local bee wrangler into a one-day social media hero.
“We were laughing about it with Jannik when it was suspended, because I had bees, had the rain,’ Alcaraz said.
“Let’s see what’s gonna happen tomorrow (Sunday final against Daniil Medvedev, who defeated Tommy Paul 1-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2). Maybe a random guy, who knows?
“Having to start the match and then have to stop, start again, it’s difficult for me.
“But I’m really happy I ended the match playing at a high level.”
Sinner took his disappointment in stride, with a possible chance for immediate revenge at the Miami Masters starting at mid-week.
“(This is) obviously a tough one to swallow, but hopefully we will see in the next days if physically I will be good for Miami.
“That for me is the most important,” he said. “I’m focused already on Miami. For sure it’s tough that it (win streak) has to end like this, but I feel grateful for what I’m doing.”
Alcaraz becomes the first man to reach the Indian Wells final as defending champion since Roger Federer in 2018.
The Spaniard has won his last 11 matches at the venue but has not lifted a trophy since Wimbledon eight months ago.
In the second semi-final, 2023 finalist Daniil Medvedev rallied after a slow start to dispatch American Tommy Paul with a fightback in the second and third sets.
Medvedev and Alcaraz will play the first repeat final at Indian Wells since Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic in 2014-2015.
Medvedev levelled the sets at one apiece with a winning tiebreak and battled through a challenging final set to swamp his local opponent after Paul missed chances on his last four break points in the concluding games.
“I knew after the first set I would have to do better,’ Medvedev said. “Tommy was playing well, but I was able to hit more winners , some maces, more balls on the line.
“Against Carlos in the final, I know what happened last year and I want to try and turn that around.
“Hopefully I’ll be able to recover for the fight tomorrow.”
Two-time champion Casper Ruud had to work for more than two and a half hours to overcome Jaime Faria, the Portuguese who put out Stan Wawrinka in the first round at the Gstaad Swiss Open on Thursday.
Faria was riding the momentum from Tuesday’s defeat of three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka, set to retire this season and beaten in an opening match at his home venue.
Faria had his eye on a second upset as he faced Ruud, who lifted the trophy at this elite alpine village in 2021 and 2022.
Ruud ahd to dodge a bullet and mount a comeback to get through the second-round test against the Portuguese.
After dropping the opening set in a tiebreaker, Ruud played patiently as Faria saved five break points in the sixth game of the second set before failing on the sixth.
Ruud then pulled away for a 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-2 victory, his first since Roland Garros.
“Sometimes it is hard to say when you get a good feeling and you start to win some games in a row,” the winner said.
“You try from the first game to the last, but suddenly something clicked in the middle of the second for me, luckily.”
He added: “I had to really fight hard and if I played one bad game in the second and he serves well, it could be over and it would be time to go home. But luckily I can extend the stay.”
The Scandinavian could join Spaniards Sergi Bruguera and Alex Corretja as three-time winners in the Alps, with Ruud now standing 10-1 here over his career.
Stefanost Tsitsipas said he slept soundly prior to finishing off a darkness-interrupted match on Thursday as he eliminated local Jerome Kym at the Gstaad Swiss Open.
The Greek who once cracked third in the world and the 186th-ranked Swiss returned to the clay after darkness on Wednesday night left them hanging at 5-all in the third set.
Tsitsipas revved up his game from the resumption to emerge into the quarter-finals 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5).
The second seed now standing 85th in the world after several poor seasons and a split with his father as his coach, said getting his rest was not a problem after the interruption.
“It was strange going to bed and not being finished. I visualised what I wanted to do, my shot patterns.
“It worked out pretty well.
“I had a good night’s sleep, I was not too stressed and I recovered to get ready for the continuation.”
After saving break points in the first game on Thursday, Tsitsipas triumphed in the final-set tiebreaker
“I’m relieved I was able to save a couple of break points.. I put my game together and made it )victory) happen again.”
The Greek now faces off against Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech for a semi-final spot.
“I’m expecting a lot of big serves, the altitude (1050m) helps. I’ll try to build consistency around my own serve.”
Stefanos Tsitsipas was handed a reprieve due to fading light with his second round match at the Swiss Open Gstaad stopped with the Greek deadlocked with local Jerome Kym 6-4, 6-7 (2), 5-5.
The math had to be halted as night fell and electronic linecalling computers could not read the path of the ball on the clay in contrast to humans who could have carried on for a few additional minutes..
The 27-year-old Tsitsipas was taking the worst of it in the concluding stage after a promising start.against a journeyman opponent ranked 186.
Tsitsipas, his ranking down to 85th after once standing third in the world, lashed out verbally in the last few games, apparently frustrated with his racquet reactions.
The Greek was quick to make his point of an overnight stoppage to the chair umpire while Kym – who reached 5-all with a love service hold – left the court with a defiant fist pump for his public in this alpine resort village.
The cutoff came after just over two hours of play, with the contest to be concluded on Thursday. The winner reaches the Friday quarter-finals.
Tsitsipas produced his last notable result in April with a fourth-round showing at the Madrid Masters,
He is aiming for his second quarter-final of the season after Doha in February and his 2025 Barcelona 15 months ago.
Tsitsipas stands 10-1 vs. players ranked outside the top 100 this season with a sole loss to No. 104 Italian Matteo Arnaldi at the Roland Garros second round.
History repeats for Argentine spoiler in Gstaad
Ruud survives a scare to secure Gstaad quarters
Tsitsipas finishes off Kym after overnight pause
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