world no. 2 Carlos Alcaraz is in his tenth ATP final at 19 years and nine months. Carlos defeated Nicolás Jarry 6-7, 7-5, 6-0 in the Rio semifinal after two hours and 42 minutes, pulling away from defending title victory and 500 ATP points.
Alcaraz will face Cameron Norrie in the title clash, the same rival he defeated in Buenos Aires last week. If a teenager wins the title, he will match Novak Djokovic’s 6,980 ATP points, although he won’t be able to surpass the Serb, who has better results in major events.
Jarry threw everything in his arsenal at the no. 2 in the opening two sets, sending bombs off her serve and forehand and standing near the finish line. However, he broke down in the closing stages of the second set and faded off the court, allowing Carlos to deliver a bagel in the decider and sealing the deal in style.
The Spaniard played better behind the second serve and saved four of five break points.
Carlos Alcaraz worked hard in the first two sets against Nicolás Jarry.
Alcaraz created six break point chances and converted five to dominate the crucial points and stay in the title field.
Jarry got off to a reliable start, producing four dominant service games and delivering an early break. Carlos wasted a game point in game two and was broken after a forced error. The Chilean kept everything under control in his service games and carved out a 5-2 lead after another good play.
The Spaniard cut the deficit to 5-3 with a winner and had one more chance to extend the action. Jarry cracked under the pressure and experienced a break in love as he served for the set after Alcaraz’s backhand cross winner.
Both players served well in the remaining three games to introduce a tiebreaker. Nicolás capitalized on two early mini-breaks to make it 3-0 and forced Carlos’ error with a strong return to advance 5-1. Jarry fired a service winner on the ninth point to close out the breaker 7-2 and get a big drive.
The Spaniard had to work hard behind the opening shot at the start of the second set. Alcaraz denied four break points and never experienced any further problems late in the match. Jarry held after deuces a couple of times and secured the result at 5-5 with a service winner in the tenth game.
Carlos was held at love in game 11 and delivered a break at love at 6-5 following a loose forehand from the opponent to prevail and introduce a decider. That forehand error sealed Jarry’s fate in this match, fighting valiantly so far but missing out on the decider.
Carlos dropped a couple of points behind the opening shot and secured three service breaks to deliver a bagel and advance to the final in style.
