Carlos Alcaraz entered the semi-finals of the Italian Open on Wednesday after having a powerful display to descend Jack Draper in two sets, 6-4, 6-4. The third seeded Alcaraz will face one of the champion in title of Rome Alexander Zverev and Home Hope Lorenzo Musetti, the last twinning of the day on Center Court, in the last four at Foro Italico. His impressive victory over Draper maintained his chances of a third title of the season and also transformed it into number two in the world ranking behind Jannik Sinner.
The Spaniard has also set up a top-two in sowing at the Open of France which begins later this month, but in the meantime, the quadruple winner of the Grand Slam continues his candidacy for a first crown of Rome.
Alcaraz had to be at his best to descend the fifth head of Draper, who did another strong performance on the clay in Italy after losing the Madrid Open final in Casper Ruud.
Draper was trying to become the first British man to reach the last four in the Italian capital since 2016, when Andy Murray was beaten by Novak Djokovic in the final.
But he lost control of the first set when after taking a two game lead, he was broken twice by Alcaraz who then took the lead in the match.
And Alcaraz made sure of the victory by saving two break points in a 10-minute eight match of the second set, before breaking Draper to love going 5-4 in the set, then serving the match at first.
Ruud’s attempt to a double from Madrid and Rome has a Jannik sinner-shaped obstacle in its own way after the number seven in the world won his post with Jaume Munar 6-3, 6-4.
The sixth seeded Ruud was supposed to play on Tuesday, but a downpour in the afternoon forced his match to be raised a day, and he convincingly obtained an appointment in the quarter-finals with Sinner.
“It was a bit difficult, you wait all day yesterday to try to play and you don’t get along … I’m proud of the way I managed it.” said Ruud, who won more games on Clay than any other player on the male tour in the past five years.
“Tomorrow will be one of the most difficult matches of the year, probably. I was beaten quite badly by Jannik the last time in Turin (in the ATP final) … Let’s see, he has been good since the first game.”
(With the exception of the title, this story has not been published by NDTV staff and is published from a unionized flow.)
Subjects mentioned in this article
