Carlos Alcaraz has pretty much rolled into the Miami Open quarterfinals, but things could get tougher in the near future.
It’s possible that the last three players standing in his way of a second consecutive Miami title are Taylor Fritz, Jannik Sinner, and Daniil Medvedev.
Sinner and Medvedev still have some work to do if they want to potentially face Alcaraz in the semifinals and final, respectively, but we already know that it will be Fritz opposing the world No. 1 on Wednesday. Fritz booked his spot in the last eight by beating Holger Rune 6-3, 6-4, while Alcaraz defeated Tommy Paul 6-4, 6-4.
The 19-year-old Spaniard is not only looking to defend his 2022 Miami title but also hoping to complete the Sunshine Double, having triumphed in Indian Wells a little more than a week ago. He did not drop a single set at the BNP Paribas Open and so far he is unblemished in Miami, too. Prior to taking care of Paul, Alcaraz dismissed Facundo Bagnis 6-0, 6-2 and Dusan Lajovic 6-0, 7-6(5).
Fritz has also been making quick work of opponents in the 305. The 10th-ranked American preceded his victory over Rune with straight-set beatdowns of Emilio Nava and Denis Shapovalov. Fritz is now 20-5 for the 2023 campaign with a title in Delray Beach and a quarterfinal performance in Indian Wells.
Unfortunately for the ninth seed, he now runs into one of the few players on tour who is in superior form–and who is a superior player in general. This also marks their first-ever meeting, which probably gives Alcaraz an additional advantage. It’s not like Fritz doesn’t know what’s coming; he has surely seen Alcaraz countless times on the practice court and in matches on TV. But it’s still different when you see it coming at you from the other side of the net.
Fritz is too good to go down without a fight, but expect something similar to what transpired between Alcaraz and Paul on Tuesday.
Pick: Alcaraz in 2
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Alca in straight sets. Dude is a bulldozer right now.
Very surprised that this is their first mtg….but agree, Charlie in straight.
As we just read, Alcaraz is going through so much success that it is jut too difficult to imagine anyone to stop him. Right now Alcaraz is a bulldozer. Winning in straight sets.
Alcaraz is very special. Novak and Rafa (hoping he gets his fitness back) have a real challenger now. Matter of time before he starts beating them in slams too. There are vulnerabilities in Alcaraz’s game but hard to compete against the legs of a 19-year old extremely fit athlete when the going gets tough.
For this match, agree that Alcaraz will win.
I agree that Alcaraz is special. But it’s very noticeable that over and over people/ commentators said that it wasn’t fair to Fed to make comparisons between him and Novak and Rafa because of the 5/6 year age difference. To which I always said fair enough.
But you never ever hear that now when everyone is desperate to hype Alcaraz even though the age differences are so much larger as to be absurd. It’s what 16 years with Novak and 17 years with Rafa?! That’s getting on for 2 decades! Obviously this is especially marked with Rafa who is injured every 5 minutes but Novak doesn’t have the lungs and stamina he once had.
The same people who said that the age differences with Fed made comparisons unfair to him should absolutely definitely be saying the same now with Rafole and Alcaraz. But they never do. Not that I have heard any way.
This is part of what irritates a lot of people about the endless hype around Alcaraz. Is he special and the best player since Novak? Yes. But there is never any context and he isn’t playing in the era of the big 3. No Fed. Novak missing tournaments because of the vaccine. Rafa endlessly out injured. Compare Alcaraz’s against Ruud for the USO with Andy Murray having to play the big 3 endlessly for example. I mean there really is no comparison in terms of the level of difficulty. How many slams would Murray have if he was playing in the Alcaraz era rather than the big 3? Way way more.