The New Jersey player had already eliminated the Spaniard in the round of 16 of the Montreal tournament in 2022

MADRID, August 12 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz lost this Saturday morning 6-3, 4-6 and 6-3 to American Tommy Paul in the quarter-finals of the Toronto (Canada) tournament, the sixth ATP Masters 1000 of the season. and who will compete for the tough, repeating the defeat against his executioner last year with the alternation of the competition in Montreal.

In his challenge to lead the ATP rankings with the greatest distance if he takes advantage of the absence of Serbian Novak Djokovic in this tournament, Alcaraz has once again demonstrated his discomfort at Sobeys Stadium. And it was that he was in tow from the start, since Paul broke his first round of service and consolidated said advantage immediately (2-0).

With quick movements and looking for the reverse forehand, the Voorhees (New Jersey) player barely faltered in his subsequent rounds of service. He skillfully saved a break point in the fourth game (3-1) and again broke the opposing serve in the seventh (5-2); and he did not hesitate to give up the eighth, as he closed the first set after a double fault from Alcaraz.

40 minutes had passed, the Murcian could not find inspiration and his catalog of moves did not shine. We even saw him angry, throwing the racket against his bench at the break between two sets. It didn’t bode well for the start of the second set, in which Paul took the lead (1-0, 2-1) and also took advantage of a broken ball in the fourth game.

Alcaraz got away with one of his fetishes, the left, at a key moment; Despite the fact that the American returned the ball, the man from El Palmar finished well and then kept this service (2-2). Then the buzz started in the stands, waiting to see if the world number 1 was preparing a comeback or if it was a simple feint.

Although Paul responded by winning in the fifth game (3-2), something had changed in the environment and it was immediately reflected. The Palma man got serious, which paradoxically in his case means smiling, and won the sixth game in white (3-3) with an outrageous last point. Thanks to a ‘willy’, in tennis jargon, he equalized the score and annoyed his opponent.

He chained another shutout to the rest (3-4) and completed his comeback in this duel, saving up to three break points in the eighth chapter (3-5). He was close in the ninth to score the set, courtesy of a 30-40 which Paul secured with an ‘ace’; but nothing changed, the man from El Palmar went straight for the partial victory and won it in white right after with his serve.

PAUL RECOVERS IN TIME

The scares for the Voorhees man weren’t over, as he faced a break point against him in the opener of the third set. He saved it fortunately, as Alcaraz touched the ball with the “shaft” of the racket as he tried to hit hard with a reverse forehand. He had copied parts of his rival’s strategy, so he changed his plan as well.

The American’s motto was to open more angles and not hit the ball so much, which helped him get his own opportunity to break; He didn’t transform him because a drive lasted a long time, but he tempered his spirits. After the 1-1 draw, Paul won the third and fifth sets in white (3-2), generating momentum which he used to break in the sixth and consolidate his lead in the seventh (5-2).

The man from Palma fulfilled his pressing mission to the end, took his serve (5-3) and passed the ‘ballot’ to his opponent. Already in the ninth game, Paul shone with a backhand pass and a looting shot, making up two options to certify victory. In the second, he closed the set and the duel in his favor, after running on another bad fall from an Alcaraz who did not receive a slice of this blow.

After 2 hours and 21 minutes on the court, the Voorhees man earned a ticket to the semi-finals, the first for him in a Masters 1000 level contest. Now in this round he will face the winner of the match between the French Gaël Monfils and the Italian Jannik Sinner.