Alcaraz falls again to Paul in Canada and breaks the winning streak
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Deja vu. That’s what Carlos Alcaraz has lived on Saturday morning against Tommy Paul. The player who prevented him from winning in Canada last season was the same player who, in the early hours of Friday morning, left the world-ranking tennis leader out before the semi-finals, after winning in three sets (6-3, 4-6, 6-3).
Alcaraz began by giving up his serve in the first game of the match. Bad habit that has taken the Murcian in this Masters 1000 in Canada. We saw him frustrated again, throwing the racquet against the bench and shouting to himself that how could there be such a lack of connection with his strokes.
It was not his forehand. The one that frightens opponents on the circuit. Despite this, Alcaraz left everything on the court. He even left his skin on the court. We could see him on the floor on more than one occasion. The tennis player from El Palmar was not willing to give a single ball for lost.
And so came the break in the second set. It seemed that everything was going back to the way it had been the night before. The break opportunity at the beginning of the third set made us reaffirm that thought. Until in the sixth game, the irregularity of the whole duel ended up taking its toll.
A great Tommy Paul snatched his serve at the most decisive moment. And as unperturbed as he was throughout the night, he sealed his pass to the semifinals of the Canadian tournament. This is the first time that the American has reached this round in a Masters 1000 tournament. There he will face the winner of the clash between Gael Monfils and Jannik Sinner.
Change the chip facing Cincinnati
It wasn’t the deja vu that the new Wimbledon champion was hoping for. But neither was it the game of Alcaraz who 24 hours earlier had come back like a champion. It was a matter of time before the defeat came, if the dynamic that had taken hold of him did not change for the better.
Now he has to think about Cincinnati and how to become again the Alcaraz who does not have to suffer from the beginning to the end of the match. Paul breaks the good streak, for which he already had 14 consecutive victories.
Little to reproach the player who has reached at least all the semifinals of the tournaments he has played this season, except in two. This is one of them. Not always the epic is on the side of the greatest, but only they know how to erase a bad day and, not in vain, Alcaraz is still the best tennis player on the planet.
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