Carlos Alcaraz survives Max Purcell scare as Novak Djokovic rematch nears
Carlos Alcaraz stays on the right track to satisfy Novak Djokovic within the last of the Cincinnati Masters after surviving a possible upset towards Max Purcell of their quarter-final contest. The Spaniard needed to dig deep in his third-round contest agains Tommy Paul with the match lasting over three hours.
And there was little for Alcaraz to recuperate and put together for his quarter-final contest towards the in-form Purcell. The 25-year-old got here by the qualifiers for the Masters 1000 occasion earlier than recording spectacular wins over Lloyd Harris, Casper Ruud and Stan Wawrinka.
It arrange an enchanting conflict for world No 1 Alcaraz, who struggled to seek out his finest kind early within the match. Purcell sensed a possibility within the first few video games and made Alcaraz pay for some lazy second serves.
The Aussie shocked the group as he broke his opponent within the seventh sport, however Alcaraz regarded removed from involved. In truth, the 20-year-old was commonly flashing his trademark smile even on the factors he was shedding.
The smile was partially wiped from his face when Purcell held to take the opening set to place one foot within the semi-finals. But Alcaraz stepped it up a gear within the second set, hitting some gorgeous winners to get the group off their seats and arrange a deciding set.
The world No 1 grew from energy to energy because it regarded as if he’d comfortably wrap issues up within the third set. But Purcell dug deep to avoid wasting 4 break factors and keep away from going a double break down within the third sport.
That proved to be big as Purcell broke again within the very subsequent sport with Alcaraz clearly rattled. The smile had now disappeared from Alcaraz’s face as he knew he confronted a tough take a look at to make it by to the semi-finals.
Like all of the greats of the previous, Alcaraz was in a position to flip a swap when he wanted it most to get him out of a tough scenario. Purcell did many of the heavy lifting for the Spaniard when it mattered with the qualifier responsible of too many double faults on his personal service sport earlier than being damaged to like.
Alcaraz opened the door as soon as extra for Purcell with back-to-back errors, handing his opponent a possibility to interrupt straight again. But the No 1 seed managed to combat again and maintain serve to see out one other powerful match to remain on the right track for a rematch with Djokovic from the Wimbledon last.