Image: (c) APA / GEORG HOCHMUTH
Carlos Alcaraz is the first semi-finalist of the Erste Bank Open, endowed with 2.09 million euros, in the Wiener Stadthalle. The 18-year-old Spaniard prevailed on Friday after an impressive performance against number three Italian Matteo Berrettini after 2:40 hours with 6: 1.6: 7 (2), 7: 6 (5). On Saturday he will meet the winner of the match between Olympic tennis champion Alexander Zverev (GER-2) and the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Zverev went into the match with a head-to-head of 3-1 wins against the number 6 seeded 21-year-old.
For Alcaraz it is the first semifinals on the tour at ATP 500 level. The teenager won his first title this year in Umag and subsequently defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas in the tiebreak of the fifth set in the third US Open round. He then reached the quarter-finals and became the youngest quarter-finalist in Flushing Meadows of the Open Era and the youngest in one of the four major tournaments since Michael Chang in 1990 at the French Open.
The match against Berrettini was once again high-class, characterized by great baseline duels and another show of the talent and tremendous power of Alcaraz. The Spaniard, looked after by the ex-world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero, kept his nerve even in the tight finish. In the third set he gave up a 4-1 lead and had to go into the tie-break against the seventh in the world rankings. In this, the youngster, who was also mentally unusually strong, prevailed and then rejoiced over his second greatest success after that of Tsitsipas in New York.
