It was far from plain-sailing for Carlos Alcaraz in front of his adoring public on Wednesday, but the 20-year-old ultimately saw off Karen Khachanov to seal his place in the semi-finals of the Madrid Open. Alcaraz found himself 5-2 down in the second set, but roared back, winning the next five games to stun Khachanov. Alcaraz will face Daniel Altmaier or Borna Coric in the last four.
Carlos Alcaraz mounted a superb second-set comeback to down Karen Khachanov and reach the Madrid Open semi-finals.
The world No. 2 looked in trouble at 5-2 down in the second set to a surging Khachanov, but he reversed the momentum to win 6-4 7-5 and secure his place in the last four once again at the event he won last year.
Talking to Amazon Prime Video afterwards, Alcaraz said: “I’m so proud to overcome the problems I had in the second set, he had a lot of chances to break my serve, and he had his chances to win the second set as well.
“I’m really happy to get through, to finish the match playing such a great level, so I’m really happy to play a semi-final again.
“This is my game,” he added, when discussing his aggressive style in the windy conditions.
“To make different shots, make tennis different. That’s my style, something I tell myself to be more patient.
“I don’t feel the pressure [to defend the title], I am just enjoying playing in La Caja Magica in front of my home crowd, it’s such a great feeling for me to feel the energy they bring to me, so it’s amazing.
“Of course I have a lot of nerves to want to do a great thing in front of my people, but all I think is to enjoy and try to make them happy as well.”
Alcaraz, the top seed, emerged to another ovation in a week in which the Madrid crowd have delighted in his wins over Emil Ruusuvuori, Grigor Dimitrov and Alexander Zverev.
But a match with Khachanov promised to be more of a test, with the Russian enjoying one of his best years on tour so far, reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open and the Miami Open.
Alcaraz pushed Khachanov to deuce in the first game of the encounter but the 10th seed held, and the pair moved to 3-3 with few alarms on their respective serves.
That was until game seven, when Khachanov coughed up three break points. Two were saved, but Alcaraz pounced on the third to go 4-3 ahead and in the first-set driving seat.
It wasn’t to be a routine end to the set however as Alcaraz was taken to deuce on both his following service games, but on his second set point at 5-4 up, he overpowered Khachanov from the baseline to secure the opener.
If Khachanov had threatened to upset the applecart at the end of the first set, then he was in proper party-pooper mode at the start of the second, accelerating into a 4-1 lead courtesy of a break in the fourth game.
And he had two chances to go 5-1 up as a hushed Madrid crowd couldn’t believe the turnaround in the encounter.
But Alcaraz seemed to be fired up by the position he found himself in, suddenly unveiling his full repertoire of passing shots on the stretch and cutely disguised drop shots.
All of which left Khachanov looking for answers as the Spaniard, from 5-2 down, took the next four games to stand on the brink of a win that would have appeared highly improbable just 20 minutes earlier.
And when Alcaraz moved to match point, he finished things off with his almost signature move, a wide kick serve on the ad side, followed by a thunderous forehand that Khachanov couldn’t retrieve.
Alcaraz will now face the winner of Daniel Altmaier and Borna Coric in the semi-finals.
