Once again, Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz put on an impressive show. Their duel, at the end of the Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati this Sunday, August 20, ended with a success for the Serbian, after 3:49 of play. Five match points were needed for the world number 2 to take his revenge on the leader of the ATP ranking, winner of the last Wimbledon tournament.
Djokovic, 36, hadn’t entered a tournament since that loss. This is the third coronation in Cincinnati for “Nole”, snatched at the end of a real marathon. An endurance test that the public was afraid to see cut short, the Serb having had to call the physiotherapist at the start of the second round, just after losing the first.
“It’s hard to describe […]. All in all, it was the toughest and most exciting match I’ve ever been in,” commented the winner of the day.
The man with 23 grand slam titles hung on, even coming back from a two-game deficit to pick up at 4-4 in the second set, in the trade, pushing his opponent to the fault as he knows how to do it so well.
From the top of his 38 Masters 1000, Djokovic then passed in front at 5-4, putting his opponent under pressure, before a breathtaking first tie-break. Alcaraz did offer a match point, but saved by Djokovic. In the aftermath, the number 2 secured a set point at the net, which he, in turn, failed to convert.
However, the second was the good one, at the end of a tense decisive game which foreshadowed the continuation of this titanic shock. Because the name of the winner was decided by a final tie-break, after Alcaraz saved four match points in a suffocating tenth game, almost 13 minutes long.
The Murcia native defended relentlessly, taking advantage of his opponent’s feverishness on serve, until a long lob from the baseline prompted Djokovic to send his spike out, putting the two men level, 5-5 . It was the Spaniard, also struggling on his serve, who narrowly regained the lead, to take the lead 6-5.
But the Serb followed suit to force a final tie-break. Decisive game that Carlos Alcaraz started with a double fault signaled for a millimeter. Then Djokovic followed up, scoring his sixth and seventh points in a row, at 3-0.
The Spaniard then offered himself a final comeback, equalizing at 3-3, without ever being able to get past his opponent. The fifth tournament ball was good for Novak Djokovic, after a Homeric final between the two best players in the world.
“Carlos is an extraordinary player, I have a lot of respect for him,” praised Djokovic, believing that his rivalry with Alcaraz, despite the age difference, is growing.
The women’s final was less close: Cori Gauff needed just two sets, without a tie-break, to win her first-ever WTA 1000 title, the fifth title of her career and the third this year. The American, world number 7, raced in the lead throughout the game, having taken out the day before Iga Swiatek, number 1. Muchova, she had qualified by eliminating the runner-up, Aryna Sabalenka.
In the scorching heat, the two players attacked the match with a bang, breaking alternately in the first three games, first to the benefit of Gauff, then of Muchova. The exchanges of advantage continued until Gauff led 5-3, serve in the pocket. In 44 minutes, she immediately put away the first set in her purse.
The scenario was more or less repeated in the second round. The American saved a break point in the fourth game, before taking her opponent’s serve in the next game for the 3-2. Then, helped by luck and a ball falling on the right side after touching the net, Cori Gauff found herself at 4-2, not without having to fight to save her serve.
Muchova multiplied the errors, getting broken again. But it was Gauff’s turn to foil, missing three match points. At 5-3, when the American was two points away from winning the tournament on Muchova’s serve, the game was briefly interrupted due to the discomfort of a spectator sitting just behind the referee’s chair.
The Czech seized her chance to move up to 4-5 but wasted no time as Gauff concluded in the next game, becoming the youngest winner of the tournament at 19. ” It’s incredible ! “savored the American. “Particularly after Europe” and Wimbledon, where she was knocked out in the first round.
