(New York) More than five hours of a fight of titans, reversals of situations in spades, a stratospheric level of play and in the end, it was Carlos Alcaraz who overcame Jannik Sinner, to qualify U.S. Open semi-finals

The clash between the 19-year-old Spaniard (4e world) and the 21-year-old Italian (13e), the two most brilliant representatives of the “Next Gen”, more than kept their promises on the Arthur Ashe on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, the first winning 6-3, 6-7 (7/9), 6-7 (0/7), 7-5, 6-3 after exactly 5:15 a.m. of an extraordinary showdown.

After 8e final won at Wimbledon by Sinner, after a high-flying duel, the revenge taken by Alcaraz, restores the balance to 2-2 in their budding rivalry, which is the best news for tennis, when will come the time to truly change the era after the retirements of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

PHOTO COREY SIPKIN, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Carlos Alcaraz

Above all, it offers the Spanish prodigy, who had to save a match point in the 4e set, a first qualification in the semi-finals of a Grand Slam, the same place where he had revealed himself last year by reaching the quarters, before confirming his explosion this season with four titles already in his pocket including the Masters 1000 of Miami and Madrid.

“I believed in myself”

“I don’t know how I did, the level of play, the level of the match was…”, confided Alcaraz who had no words after a long and respectful embrace with Sinner. It was 2:50 a.m. at Flushing Meadows where never in the history of the tournament had a match ended past 2:26 a.m.

(function () {
var slotName = “ad6319deb2c637b-adSlotLppos”;
var dimensions = [“fluid”,[634,125],[634,150],[634,180],[634,200],[634,634],[634,400],[640,360],[640,480],[728,200]];
var positionName = null;
var pageBlock = “text”;

positionName = “pos0″;
var adUnitPath=”/” + [
nuglif.ngApp.globals.network,
nuglif.ngApp.globals.topLevelAdUnit,
nuglif.ngApp.globals.adUnit
].join(‘/’);

LPAds.createAdSpot(slotName, adUnitPath, pageBlock, positionName, dimensions);

LPAds.registerSpotReceived(slotName, function (slotData) {
if (slotData) {
if (LPAds.isProductGalleryAd(slotData.creativeTemplateId)) {
console.debug(‘Ads: Product gallery detected for ‘ + slotName);
document.getElementById(slotName).parentElement.style.maxWidth=”728px”;
document.getElementById(slotName).parentElement.style.width=”100%”;
} else if (LPAds.isNativeAd(slotData.creativeTemplateId) ) {
console.debug(‘Ads: Native Ad detected for ‘ + slotName);
document.getElementById(slotName).parentElement.style.width=”100%”;
} else if (LPAds.isNativeAdXtra(slotData.creativeTemplateId) ) {
console.debug(‘Ads: Native Ad Xtra detected for ‘ + slotName);
document.getElementById(slotName).parentElement.style.width=”100%”;
document.getElementById(slotName).classList.add(“adSpotBlock__slotInner–xtra”);
}
}
});

LPAds.displayAdSpot(slotName);
})()

On the match point at 5-4 for Sinner in the penultimate round, “I believed in myself. There is always hope until we lose. I believed in my game,” he added.

“I’ve conceded some tough defeats, but this one is one of the toughest. She’s gonna hurt me for a while,” Sinner blew afterward.

Alcaraz will face American Frances Tiafoe (26e), euphoric since he blocked the road to Nadal in 8e and then intractable against Andrey Rublev, to try to climb into the final and hope to become the youngest world No.1 in history on Monday.

“Frances is very confident, it will be really tough. But I want to take advantage of this moment, of my first qualification in the half, ”commented the Spaniard, who will also have to think about recovering.

Because in the New York night, despite the fatigue, the duration of the fight and the very late hour, the two players tirelessly continued to hit, to run, to put back balls that seemed untouchable, to storm the net , to distill a few well-hit shots in the middle of bursts of heavy strikes…

Crazy atmosphere and “high five”

A recital that kept the audience in suspense in an Arthur Ashe still half full, the spectators from the highest tiers rushing closer to the court, in a crazy atmosphere. So much so that even Alcaraz got caught up in the “high five” game, those high fives like you see in NBA basketball games between players and fans.

The phenom from Murcia dominated the first set by taking Sinner’s serve three times who only recovered one serve from the Spaniard. He then missed a lot of chances: 5 missed set points in the 2e inning, then served for the set in the third at 6-5. But Sinner came back and easily won the tie break.

An inexhaustible warrior like his idol Rafael Nadal, of whom he is destined to become the worthy successor, Alcaraz has had the merit of never giving up.

Even broken in the decisive set (3-2 for Sinner), he immediately came back and managed to take the opposing service twice to lead 5-3. And with an ace, he did not miss the opportunity this time to win the second longest match in history at Flushing Meadows, after the 1992 Edberg-Chang which lasted 5:26.

(function () {
var slotName = “ad6319deb2c6404-adSlotLppos”;
var dimensions = [“fluid”,[634,125],[634,150],[634,180],[634,200],[634,634],[634,400],[640,360],[640,480],[728,200]];
var positionName = null;
var pageBlock = “text”;

positionName = “pos1″;
var adUnitPath=”/” + [
nuglif.ngApp.globals.network,
nuglif.ngApp.globals.topLevelAdUnit,
nuglif.ngApp.globals.adUnit
].join(‘/’);

LPAds.createAdSpot(slotName, adUnitPath, pageBlock, positionName, dimensions);

LPAds.registerSpotReceived(slotName, function (slotData) {
if (slotData) {
if (LPAds.isProductGalleryAd(slotData.creativeTemplateId)) {
console.debug(‘Ads: Product gallery detected for ‘ + slotName);
document.getElementById(slotName).parentElement.style.maxWidth=”728px”;
document.getElementById(slotName).parentElement.style.width=”100%”;
} else if (LPAds.isNativeAd(slotData.creativeTemplateId) ) {
console.debug(‘Ads: Native Ad detected for ‘ + slotName);
document.getElementById(slotName).parentElement.style.width=”100%”;
} else if (LPAds.isNativeAdXtra(slotData.creativeTemplateId) ) {
console.debug(‘Ads: Native Ad Xtra detected for ‘ + slotName);
document.getElementById(slotName).parentElement.style.width=”100%”;
document.getElementById(slotName).classList.add(“adSpotBlock__slotInner–xtra”);
}
}
});

LPAds.displayAdSpot(slotName);
})()