Toronto has been upset city this week, and not even Carlos Alcaraz is immune to the trend.
Alcaraz lost to Tommy Paul 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the National Bank Open on Friday night. Paul continued his awesome 2023 form and capitalized on another out-of-sorts performance by the world No. 1 to pull off the upset after two hours and 20 minutes.
“I played a really good match today,” Paul said. “I really went after my shots; you can’t start any points on your heels against him; he’ll take advantage of it. You have to go for your shots early in the rally. I was feeling really good on my first-strike tennis. I think that was the difference tonight.”
The 14th-ranked American also upset Alcaraz last summer at this Masters 1000 tournament–that time during second-round action in Montreal.
“It helps knowing that you can beat your opponent,” Paul commented. “You never want to walk out on the court and be like, ‘I don’t know if you can beat this guy.’ It’s kind of the attitude you need to have no matter who you’re playing. But yeah, it probably helped a little bit.”
The 26-year-old will face either Jannik Sinner or Gael Monfils in the semifinals on Saturday. On the other side of the draw it will be an all-unseeded showdown between Alex de Minaur and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
nice one, Tommy
Well played but doubt Alcaraz is too concerned. You can’t sustain the level he aims for all year long. A slight drop in motivation and focus will result in a loss at this level.
I doubt he will be worried if he loses early in Cincinnati also. He’ll just bring it when it matters.