The challenge between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic has found another highlight on the Cincinnati hard-courts, for the Western & Southern Open final.
This year they have already faced each other twice before Cincinnati: at the Roland Garros, challenge won by Djokovic, the epic final of Wimbledon, won by Alcaraz. By completing three ties on all three surfaces, with the Serbian now leading 2-1 in head-to-head matches, in 2023.
Djokovic then takes revenge in the Wimbledone final and wins the Cincinnati Masters 1000 final with the result of 5-7, 7-6, 7-6.
This makes the ATP Masters 1000 titles won by the 23-time Grand Slam champion in his career 39, the first of a season dominated above all in Grand Slams.
The final in Cincinnati
It is a beginning of the match that seems balanced, but which always hides pitfalls and above all unexpected turning points.
Both concede little in the first rounds of service, but the first problems arrive for Djokovic. In the fifth game, the Serbian goes into trouble and, although he doesn’t allow any break points, he is forced to go to the advantage to defend the score.
Then, it’s Djokovic’s time: by raising the level of the return, and failing the serve to come out of Alcaraz’s right, he manages to break the serve without conceding even 1 point to the opponent. In scoring, the Spaniard reacts immediately with the counter break.
A backhand recovery, applauded by his opponent, is just one pearl of a game played badly by the world number two. So the set continues, between mistakes by the Serbian and pure power plays by the Spaniard.
At 5-5, it is Alcaraz who breaks serve and gives himself the chance to serve for the set. Here the reigning Wimbledon champion made no mistake and closed the first practice. The physical suffering that Djokovic suffers continues in the second set.
It doesn’t seem like a muscle problem, as can be seen from the medical time out called after losing serve in the third game of the set. Without strength, as if he were the player with the most hours on the court or with the most sets played in this tournament and not vice versa.
That game is enough for number one to keep number two at a distance, increasingly foul and who clings above all to a good first. The truth, however, is that this Cincinnati has given two indications: Djokovic never dies and above all Alcaraz’s empty passes are never lacking.
This is what happens in the ninth game, where it is the two-time Grand Slam champion who concedes the counterbreak on a silver platter, which reopens the second set. Perhaps heartened by Alcaraz’s decline, Djokovic gets back on his feet and raises the level, approaching and almost equaling that of his opponent.
What allows both to reach the tie-break. This too may seem balanced but Djokovic has put another gear, he who has monstrous percentages in tiebreaks. After a slice challenge, Alcaraz’s backhand ends up on the net: thus the match reopens. In the third set, it’s balance.
The two are getting closer and closer to what is their best tennis, with numbers of winners and mistakes it seems to get thinner and thinner. The first to concede and cancel break points is Alcaraz, in the fifth game.
Situation that is repeated in the seventh game, the most fought of the entire match. However, a different outcome: five total balls, four canceled and one that ends up on the net: Djokovic takes the lead for the first time in the decisive set.
Alcaraz begins to feel tired from the many hours spent on the Cincinnati field and every game of him becomes an increasingly close fight. He concedes two championship points on his serve, but cancels them both: one with a passer of rare beauty.
Called to serve for the match, here is the show: between break points and championship points of infinite intensity and beauty, Alcaraz brings everything back to a draw. That game is just a starter to an ending of a supernatural level.
The Spaniard manages to keep his serve and brings this Djokovic, who had gone to serve for the match, to serve to stay in the match. The Serbian replies present and everything is decided at the tie-break. He fights tooth and nail because there is little strength left.
Djokovic is always one step ahead and this time, with match points available, he’s not wrong.