By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Thursday, October 10, 2024
Photo: Lintao Zhang/Getty
Number 2 in the world Carlos Alcaraz provided all the right answers by amassing a 12-game winning streak.
Firing his brow with menacing intent, Tomas Machac made the artist of all the courts Alcaraz ever feel sued today.
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The 23-year-old Machac showed sharp skills in all areas as he stunned Alcaraz 7-6(5), 7-5 to advance to his first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final at the Rolex Shanghai Masters today.
Machac not only doubled Alcaraz’s forehand winner total—18 to 9—he won 19 of 20 trips to the net to lead the reigning Wimbledon and Roland Garros champion.
Alcaraz said Machac, who climbs to No. 25 in the live rankings, was operating at a Top-5 level of play.
“I feel like I was playing against a top-5 player, not even top 10, no, top 5, his level, it was so high,” Alcaraz said. “I thought it would give me an opportunity, a window, but it didn’t. I mean from the first game to the last his level was very high. The ball speed was unbelievable.
“So I feel good. Honestly, I felt good on the court, I feel very good with the ball, I was hitting well, I was moving well. But, honestly, at one point I didn’t know what to do. “
On several occasions, Machac swung his wing from corner to corner, leaving Alcaraz to fend for himself after the ball was careened by him.
“Honestly, it was one of those games where it was crazy that I couldn’t play alongside him,” Alcaraz told media in Shanghai. “I mean, every time he hit his arm it was a winner, or the next ball would go, he would hit a winner again. It was unbelievable, it was crazy to me.”
An Olympic mixed doubles gold medalist alongside partner Katerina Siniakova, Machac scored his second career Top 5 win just weeks after pulling out against Alcaraz in the Davis Cup.
Relishing his shot at revenge, Machac made the most of it by setting up a semi-final against world number 1 Jannik Sinner.
“I was really disappointed with the way it went in the Davis Cup because the match was unbelievable,” Machac said. “Even I can lose in three sets, I don’t know, maybe there was a chance to win or not, I don’t know, but I wasn’t happy that the match didn’t end the way it deserved.
“So I was looking for revenge, for sure, and I just tried to enjoy the match, enjoy the quarterfinal against one of the best right now. So even when I lost my serve at 3-all in the second set, I didn’t even I wasn’t upset because I knew I didn’t do anything wrong and I was just trying to play my game.
“And I deserve it more, maybe, I don’t know, but I’m very happy with my mentality today, for sure.”
