Alcaraz dethrones Sinner in Beijing and takes the 16th title of his career

Beijing. Carlos Alcaraz (number 3) defeated the Italian Jannik Sinner (number 1 and current champion of the event) to win the ATP 500 in Beijing, the 16th tournament of the 21-year-old Spaniard’s career, this Wednesday in the Chinese capital.

The duel between the two tennis players called to dominate the circuit in the coming years, who this season have shared the Grand Slam titles (two for each), was won by the Spaniard 6-7 (6/8), 6 -4 and 7-6 (7/3) in almost three and a half hours of play.

With this victory, the Murcian prodigy leads 6-4 in his direct confrontations with Sinner (23 years old), the last three, all this year, consecutively (Indian Wells, Roland Garros and Beijing).

Next week there could be a new chapter in this rivalry at the Shanghai Masters 1000.

55 winnersbut also 51 errors

As is usual in Alcaraz, he alternated moments of great brilliance (55 winners to only 30 for his rival) in the game with his classic disconnections (52 unforced errors to 31).

This irregularity prevented him, for example, from closing the first set with his serve after having taken the initiative from the beginning.

Nor did the Spaniard take advantage of up to three balls of break (one of the points to improve in his game) to score the first set, one with 6-5 in favor and another two in the tie break.

Too many gifts for the world number 1, who did not waste the first opportunity he had to score the first set.

Alcaraz was more consistent in the second set and did not give up his serve, which allowed him to extend the match thanks to the break achieved in the ninth game.

The Spaniard seemed launched to victory when he broke Sinner’s serve again in the third game and went 3-1 in favor, but again he suffered a ‘disconnection’ and the Italian took advantage of it to take the initiative again and go 4-1 -5 to the rest.

Comeback in the tie-break decisive

In that game, Alcaraz was able to alternate great blows, such as a volley off a ball from Sinner and a backhand cross to the line that caused a smile of disbelief from the Italian, with unthinkable mistakes in a player who has already won four Grand Slam tournaments. , but the Spaniard held on to his tennis to tie it at five games.

Despite the fatigue, both players offered some of the best shots in their repertoire at that time and delighted the Beijing public with spectacular points, worthy of the two tennis players who are called to star in the great rivalry in the next decade.

The match was decided in tie-breakwhere Sinner was 0-3 in favor, but the best version of Alcaraz appeared to score seven points in a row and claim the title.

“In the third set, I’m not going to fool you, at 0-3, two mini-breaks for him… but I didn’t lose hope and I thought I had to give everything I had to try to give myself the opportunity to get closer,” Alcaraz explained after the game.

“I played three great points to equal 3, then I just thought about going for it. If I lost, at least, I would go for it. So that’s all I thought about at that moment,” Alcaraz.

Sabalenka after number 1

In the women’s category (which has a WTA 1000 category), Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, who has made it clear that one of her big goals for the rest of the year is to finish the season as number 1, qualified for the quarterfinals after defeating to the American Madison Keys 6-4 and 6-3, in her 15th consecutive victory.

In the next round, Sabalenka, who has not lost a match since the quarterfinals of the WTA 1000 in Toronto at the beginning of August, will face the Czech Karolina Muchova (number 49), who easily defeated the Spanish Cristina Bucsa (number 79 ) in two sets 6-2 and 6-0.

Local heroine Zheng Qinwen, Olympic champion in Paris 2024, also went to the quarterfinals after overcoming a lost first set against American Amanda Anisimova 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.