Spain is well represented in the Barcelona semifinals with Pablo Carreno Busta taking on Diego Schwartzman and Carlos Alcaraz battling Alex de Minaur. Alacaraz is aiming for his third title of the 2022 campaign.
(6) Diego Schwartzman vs. (8) Pablo Carreno Busta
In a rematch of the 2021 Barcelona quarterfinals, Diego Schwartzman will take on Spanish veteran Pablo Carreno Busta. Carreno Busta won that encounter in three hard-fought sets. He was match point down against Casper Ruud in their quarterfinal on Friday three times in the second set before clawing his way back for victory.
Schwartzman has had a good run in Barcelona. The Argentine dispatched Lorenzo Musetti in the third round and a struggling Felix Auger-Aliassime in the quarters. Schwartzman has defeated Carreno Busta just once in their three meetings–back in 2017 at the indoor hard-court event in Vienna.
Both men are in strong form on the dirt right now, so this should be an entertaining match. Schwartzman will need his seemingly endless reserve of energy because Carreno Busta is going to make him work hard. Expect a typical, quality clay-court battle. There should be plenty of service breaks and long points to thrill the fans.
Cheryl pick: Carreno Busta in 3
Ricky pick: Schwartzman in 3
(5) Carlos Alcaraz vs. (10) Alex de Minaur
It would seem that Carlos Alcaraz just needs a match against Stefanos Tsitsipas to energize him. The Spaniard delighted the nighttime Spanish crowd by dispatching a surly Tsitsipas in three wild sets. Alcaraz nabbed the first set, but he lost his way a bit in the second. Between the second and third sets the teenager took a bathroom break and came back in the third on fire to take the match going away.
He will face Aussie Alex de Minaur on Saturday and it will be the first meeting for the two men. De Minaur has had a solid if slightly uneventful first half of the tennis season. The semifinal showing this week marks his best result of the year. De Minaur earned his spot in Saturday’s semi with wins over Ugo Humbert, Lloyd Harris, and Cameron Norrie.
Given the form Alcaraz found against Tsitsipas–and since he will be playing in front of appreciative home fans eager to get behind their countryman–this one should be a straightforward win for the favorite.
Cheryl pick: Alcaraz in 2
Ricky pick: Alcaraz in 2
WWW?
Schwartz in 3; Alcaraz in 3.
Don’t throw Alcaraz 2-0 into your multis. This guy is an absolute lottery.
Lets hope we never hear about Alcaraz’s mastery ever again after this.
Mastery my $$&*#@$%. This guy just swings out like he’s playing roulette.
De Minaur shouldve won. Didn’t do enough with the short ball on match point. He’ll be having nightmares about that.
Alcaraz made a bit of a hash of that, didn’t he?
He did similar against Tsit. Think he was up a break in the 2nd and then lost 6(?) games in a row. Sems to lose concentration mid match. Only 18, think he’s fantastic! And a really fair player.
This Alcaraz kid just simply doesn’t give up. His opponents would find it hard to keep up with him over three sets hence they would be beaten by him.
De Minaur had himself to blame for not getting it done in straight sets when he had the chance to do so. I knew when it went the distance, Alcaraz would win, because he could still continue with his aggressive attacking style but his opponent would be tiring out trying to defend against him, their legs would simply be too tired running after his drop shots!
I didn’t understand why De Minaur was playing from so far behind the baseline, he’s no Rafa, couldn’t move as quickly as Rafa, neither was his anticipatary skills as good as Rafa’s and so Alcaraz’s drop shots were simply too much for De Minaur to handle.
Alcaraz OTOH was playing close to the baseline, controlling the court and moving to the net as often as he pleased. Alcaraz just has the game to win on any court surface, not playing a clay court game to win on clay!
We’ll see about that on grass but I dont doubt it.
I hope though, that he’s not another ‘future multi Slam Champion ‘ who is brilliant at 18 then never lives up to the hype.
There are guys who came on strong but never realized their potential. It remains to be seen what will happen with Alcaraz.
I said to myself after he beat De Minaur, this guy is such a lottery with the way his head works that he will probably now win the final 2-0.
And what do you know.
You don’t expect to win any particular bet with Alcaraz. With him, it’s a numbers game. Over the course of 100 bets, you hope to come out ahead on averages as he plays his roulette style of tennis.
The key with Alcaraz is to understand the mind of a gorilla. Once you do that you can start to predict his performance levels.