Carlos Alcaraz, who won the career Grand Slam in Melbourne two weeks ago, continues to shine on the ATP Tour. The 22-year-old Spaniard maintained his perfect season with a thrilling 7-6(3), 6-4 victory over defending champion Andrei Rublev in Doha on Friday.
Alcaraz, who has a 67-5 record in his last 72 fights, will face either Jakub Mensik or Arthur Fils in Saturday’s title fight.
The world number one has reached his 34th tour final and will be competing for his 26th career title.
Against Rublev, he was on a mission from the start, breaking serve early at 3-2 in the first set and pushing the Russian into a corner. But to his credit, Rublev produced his best baseline performance and broke Alcaraz twice late in the set to enter the tiebreaker.
His efforts were in vain, as Alcaraz soon won three set points, Rublev smashed his own racket into the thigh, and the Spaniard calmed down to take the first set in the next point.
In the second set, the pair took the tennis to the next level, trading stunning rallies that included Rublev’s gold-medal backhand winner in the first game.
But Rublev’s best efforts were not rewarded. Instead, Alcaraz fought hard and broke serve first, taking a 2-0 lead.
Rublev refused to serve and soon he was back on serve with all three men, but fell behind again after Alcaraz broke for 5-3.
In the next game, Rublev continued to apply pressure and only had three match points in three sets. He won two break points and put all his energy into an inside-out forehand to convert the second break point at 4-5 with 1 hour and 54 minutes remaining.
The tension continued to build in the final game, with Alcaraz launching a counterattack from 30-0 down and Rublev launching a counterattack. All Rublev could do was shake his head as the Spaniard sealed an incredible victory with a brilliant winner on the fifth match point.
He sealed the victory with the next point and reached the Doha final for the first time.
