The rain, that old enemy of tennis, disrupted the day this Wednesday at the Masters 1000 in Miami and the quarter-final match between Carlos Alcaraz and the American Taylor Fritz will finally be played this Thursday (not before 1:00 a.m., Movistar Sports). The organization of the North American tournament has rushed everything possible so as not to harm the tennis players or the fans, but it has been forced to suspend the night session and the Spaniard, number one in the ATP, must try to clarify his access on Friday one day later than expected in the semifinals.
Specifically and as long as the weather permits, Alcaraz and Fritz will compete against each other from 8:30 p.m. local time. In the penultimate lap, the Italian Jannik Sinner is already waiting, whose duel with Emil Ruusuvuori was interrupted for two hours due to the downpour, but was finally decided: 6:3 and 6:1. “It would make me very happy to play against him. [Alcaraz] again as I love this type of matches. I’ve said several times that it makes me a better player,” said the Italian, who benefited from the setback.
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In the event of a win, the 19-year-old from Murcia would have one less rest day than Sinner, with whom he met in Indian Wells last week. Then the El Palmar man won on a slightly slower surface 7-6(4), 6-3. “When I play him or Taylor it’s very different because Carlos has a little more variety,” said the first semi-finalist; “I reached the quarterfinals in the Big Four. I hit him on grass [Wimbledon] and on land [Umag], but we play in the afternoon. Here the track is fast so we’ll see; He has a very tough match against Taylor first.”
That Thursday should also have been played the two remaining matches of the men’s quarterfinals, between Daniil Medvedev and Christopher Eubanks and between Karen Khachanov and Francisco Cerúndolo; the first takes place at 19:00 in the middle and the second not before 21:00 on the siding. The poster featuring Petra Kvitova and Ekaterina Alexandrova that completed the poster for the women’s semifinals was also blocked; both jump onto the track around 9:15 p.m. – rain is generally not announced.
The winner collides with veteran Sorana Cirstea the next day, who surprised Aryna Sabalanka (doubles 6-4). At the other intersection, Elena Rybakina and Jessica Pegula will measure their strength.
However, almost all eyes are on Alcaraz, whom Sinner (21 years old, 11th in the world rankings) praised for his performance in the past few days with 17 wins in 18 appearances and two other titles in the showcase. “He moves and subtracts very well. won big [el US Open]Miami [también el curso pasado] and now Indian Wells. He is one of the best players right now, if not the best. only lost one game [en la final de Río, frente a Cameron Norrie] and he was hurt. We will see. I have to focus on myself, I have my own way. I can improve in many things and play at a high level at the same time,” said the Italian, finalist in Miami two years ago.
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