30.04.2024

I grew up a lot I I'm a different player. different. person this year is one of my best. year he's getting older he's getting. physically a lot stronger um I think as. an 18 19 year old you always. improve he's incredible for in my. opinion he's going to be a world number. one is going to be a multiple Grand Slam. Champion he's somebody definitely that. is going to be on top of the game for a. long. time is great player he's a very. complete player big serf so uh it's. going to be a great. match. Carlos. alar. so as the world number three strides out. onto Court Philip. chatrier he looks to try and take down. the 19year-old world number six a. player who is on a 14 match win. streak this should be absolutely. fascinating and to help me talk through. it Nick Brown is with myself PES in the. commentary box what are your thoughts.

Ahead of this one well I've got. goosebumps when the schedule came out. last night a bit. chilly to see this match alarz for me. man of the moment I've never been. excited about seeing a tennis player. since Roger fedra first came on the. scene we got excited a little bit few. years ago when zerif came out the. Juniors made that transition into senior. game very quickly titsy pass they did. the same thing you know made the final. heal last year but this guy for me is a. different. level and he's shown it in recent rounds. of course had to save that match point. against Alber Ramos Finas in the second. round since then though hasn't really. looked back straight sets wins over cord. and. hatov that was in the night session on. this very Court it was Flawless at times. from the Spaniard whereas zov it's been. a little more scruffy and Scrappy but he.

Does have two WIS against alcaras both. coming last year but he'll be wanting to. hunt down a bit of Revenge after losing. to him in the final of. Madrid he just takes his time here is is. he just sort of sending the message to. say yep I've been in this situation. before this is my house. absolutely hello all right guys can we. take some photos please over to that. side first thank. you all right so for the ball for the. match usual match conditions okay just a. few things for the ball max if I have a. doubt I'll be going myself anyway but if. you want me to check anything please. make it clear especially if you need to. stop the point 25 seconds between the. points and for your towels all around. the court Sasha you can have the one. with the orange sticker and Carlos the. gray okay any questions before we start.

No K USI. Sasa or Carlos Carlos. rang rangos or2 rangos. Al 22 receive. receive sure yeah. sure mer Bravo so that was ver winning. the toss and electing to receive first. what' you make of that decision. Nick well not unusual sometimes on the. men's tour for guys to wanted to try and. get an early breaker serve and nothing. better to do that in the first game of. the. match and it is now bright sunshine in. Paris 21° C it's not been overly. warm say this tournament the temperature. has changed quite quickly depending on. the clouds if the the the sun is out. it's quite warm if it goes behind a. cloud it then becomes pretty. cold and we know that Sasha was talking. in his last match incidentally that win. over Zapata maras which was a bit of a. difficult straight sets win it was. straight sets but not very. straightforward but he was saying he.

Wanted it to be warmer he felt his. forehand was missing his servy couldn't. get the 200ks so how will he feel with. the the conditions this afternoon well. he'll probably quite like that in terms. of a little bit warmer today not. extremely that much different but like. you're saying that temperature certainly. dropping around kind of tea time in. Paris and and those kind of night. matches or matches going into kind of. early evening has been quite difficult. to be able to control the ball so you. feel he would have had his Coco golf. flag out won that first. set definitely he'd have been. cheering quite worked out this year for. sash verev of course the famous words of. saying there's a new big three himself. medv. jovic yet to win a title in 2022 after. what was quite simply Sublime 2021. winning six titles including that gold.

Medal at the. Olympics he's another player who's come. through this one with saving a match. point in the second round as much as. he's had straight set victories over. Nakashima and zapat maras as I say it's. been a little Scrappy and Scruffy two. tie Breakers against. nakima need a long tiebreaker despite. being up 41 in the first set against. Morales both matches were nearly three. hours long. Serge brought on. board as Carlos alarz his name is read. out yet to have any of those titles or. years attached to it like we have with. Nadal and. jovic but for you Nick I'm guessing you. think it is just a matter of time. whether it's this time is the question. well before tourament started I thought. he had a great chance there's no doubt. about that interesting speaking to. different people and people are close. him even though he's n agent was saying.

Actually it's too early for him to win. I'm going well how can you say that with. the tennis he's been playing coming into. this last match. particular I thought that's the best. I've seen Karen hatano play for a long. long time and yet he only gave up what. was it nine. games he seems to be finding a level. well I've not seen a 19year-old fine. before but for you Nick what is so. impressive he's got everything he's got. speed he's got the power he's got the. passion he's got the tennis brain as it. were to be able to vary things change. things around and what he is learning. for me and Grand Slam is how to control. the match as each sets goes by and that. was what was really impressive when he. played Peter Sebastian C easy slip yeah. not his father Sebastian CER in in the. the uh third round that he controlled.

The whole match all the way through yeah. he said himself as we see his M and dad. there Senor said himself that he. believes what he does better than anyone. else is that he is aggressive with. everything he does movement Drop shots. defense offense practice that word. aggression is everywhere now this is the. headto-head which I've referenced a. couple of times. already but they last met in Madrid. which was just a couple of months to go. but there is a little asterisk by that. because the night before Zev was playing. until about nearly 2 a.m. against Steph. sitz pass so it was a mightily quick. turnaround to then go and play that. final he only picked up the four games. if you turn back to. 2021 he beat him 6361 and 6363 is verve. got the better of alcaras how much do. you read into those previous. matches right now not a lot because.

Alarz is a totally different player than. he was 12 months ago here rolling. G both of those matches were also on. hard what a an evening and afternoon. it's going to be of course jovic and. Nadal meeting for the 10th time at rol. on garos that's to. come first let's enjoy this young man. once again on. chatrier. just like we saw with the coin toss s. ver just taking a bit of extra. time the 19y old wait so this forl in. the semifinals of r on G alaras against. verif Nick Brown along s myself P. Dodgers and we will talk you through. this. quarterfinal. Z saying it during the. warmup far little bit scratchy lot of. unforced errors in his last match what's. he got to do today to get the. win well I think somehow he's got to get. his nose in front against alar to put. him under a little bit of pressure to do. that of course he's got to keep that.

Consistency from the back of the court. and he's got to serve. well we all know can as zerif can serve. when he's serving well get so many free. points and he will need that. weapon in this match tonight. F back out winner already from AAR as. the US in the eyes have started. coner. yeah look where it position is right up. on the Baseline taking that nice and. early the return was dropped slightly. short of a length and is quickly onto. it prier. service. caranto. Trump. well Z was ready for. it read the drop shot look at that. reaction from alcaras I think that tells. you some nerves. that's a nice nerve settling game for. the. Spaniard and do we almost forget that. looking at him at the moment 14 match. win streak he's a celebrity around the. grounds whenever he practices there's. hordes of people if we got to remind.

Oursel this is still his first. quarterfinal at Roland gas well there's. no doubt every player stepping on this. court to play a big match like this is. going to be a little bit nervous at the. start of a match and alarz there'll be. no different to. that. simply a ridiculous. return so quick to transition up the. court. to. Zer well he just makes it look so easy. doesn't he how he closes the. net good execution on the. volley where set himself after that win. for alarz in Madrid he's the best player. in the world right. now. little heavy handed with the first. volley and half good enough isn't going. to be good enough against this. 19year-old G. punt. all. right. tra. let Serv. this very of incidentally just. complaining about his trainers at the. end of that last Point Long. laces so just keep an eye on. that. Tonto. Trum.

Maybe we'll see that shot as well used. from alarz to test out that. forehand. wind has just picked up as. well there is Sasha. senior again Immaculate length off the. return alant alar yes and that's what. sets up the short ball I mean doesn't. need a second invitation to really step. up and accelerate through. it early break. point. slightly short and this time it's s's. turn to take. advantage it's big first game. particularly for the. German he talked himself about he was. disappointed with hes in his. concentration he didn't want to say. holes in his game he felt he had dips in. concentration in the last round. kind of feel tonight he's not going to. be allowed to to get away with. that and Nick I referenced at the the. beginning of this match his record. against top 10 opponents best of five 0. and 13 best of three 39 wins 34 losses.

Is that to do with what he said there is. it his concentration over such a long. period of time. well I I think to be fair he actually. has improved his game over this last. kind of year or so his second serve. definitely a little bit more reliable. got more spin more. control he's able to secure that game. survives and also the forehand forand. for me he's tidied it up the swing shape. looked much better he's he's not Mish. hitting so much as he used to do and. he's be able to get the racket head. around the ball he was went through a. stage where he he was really struggling. to be able to control the ball the. racket the ball is kind of hitting. inside out on it rather than around the. outside which you're able to control it. with the spin so you believe it's just a. matter of time before that start starts. to turn.

Around well you'd hope. so time will. tell you have to say. personally he's been the biggest. surprise for me this year I thought he. was exceptional last year winning the. gold medal in particular not only the. jovic match but the match against hatov. the final. it was about as close to Perfection as. you've seen from sash's ver I thought. that moment was was going to mean he. would get over the line in a slam. soon but it hasn't been his way in 2022. of course disqualification in Acapulco. and I wonder how much that has played a. factor as well since then he's got that. 8 we suspension hanging over his head. for the next year until February if he. behaves badly again. and he's uh away from the sport for. eight. weeks well he played so well didn't he. ATP finals last year you know it's the. second time he won it and you're just.

Thinking well then he's going to take. that form into the following year The. Confidence from. that just like a lot of players just. find it very difficult to kind of make. that next step in the game he wasn't far. away 2020 in the final against US Open. against uh Dominic team was two points. away from winning the. match two very proud parents No. Doubt. garanto. trp. both players have been under a little. bit of pressure on. serve it's the server who has come. through in the opening three games six. seed in front two. one. for. spee. fore. just talking about SZ ver also made some. interesting comments this week about his. season and saying that he he's suffered. a lot feels he's gone through a bit of. depression of course a lot of issues off. the court there's been accusations. thrown at him along with that. disqualification and for the first time.

This week really he was open about how. much that has affected. him. he kind of felt the tennis last. year was his escape from it all just. wonder this year with the results not. quite happening whether he's been able. to find that sort of. escapism. f. z a little bit of a m hit there from. car's middle of that rally just didn't. quite middle that back. hand. silky from. Z was talking about the importance of. the start of this match and overall the. German will be pretty happy yeah much. better service game from him first serve. delivery makes such a. difference. cha. SLE. the sport look easy once. again p. z one of the easiest Drop shots you. going to see arar's play. tonight he's just the master with that. shot never seen with that kind of feel. touch particularly when he's further. back behind the Baseline and just the.

Audacity to play at the right. time. of a little. lift certainly will be able to play with. a bit more freedom tonight despite being. the world number three despite being the. player that's reached the Grand Slam. final reached the semifinals here. before I feel he's got a point to prove. s. good length off the. return reached the dizzying heights that. we saw against HOV or cter as of. yet these two just sparring at the. moment you feel who's going to land the. first big. punch. oh that's a superb shot on the stretch. from. Z well good anticipation here from the. German just kind of held his. ground tremendous reach full stretch on. his forehand to get enough on. it it's a break point for the third. seat quickly taken away from. him well a lot of players get pretty. nervous trying to play drop shot on a. big. point but not this guy he does it in his.

Sleep. avantage another. chance second break point of the game. for. do you expect s to adjust his court. position at all with alcarez being so. strong on the drop shot wow. had expected to move in in particular on. the second serve return to try and take. it early and obviously when the near. nearer closer the Baseline you're able. to create more angles on that. return that's ball you think you he. tried to go Around the Net. post isn't firing for alcaras I think. that's a sixth unforced error from that. Wing already. still the Poker Face from caros. Ferrero it is a third break point for. zv. he tried the shot before on break point. couldn't quite get it right did on that. occasion and it's verf who strikes. first and breaks for a 32. lead interesting alcar suro on that. second serve break point down just shows. you a little bit where he is at the.

Moment he's not not quite got his feel. from the back of the Court too many. unforced terras he's not really settled. yet in terms of finding his range on the. court must be a. unique experience for him it's in first. time rol G's quarterfinal and walks out. against the world number three someone. who's achieved so much in this sport but. he's the. favorite that's got to be tough to deal. with psychologically yeah but I think. everyone's been talking him being about. favorite coming into the tournament he's. had this in every press conference he's. gone to in the last couple weeks the. expectation he brings the. court an excellent start from s ver. he's the one to break first having. 32 sit down we were just talking about. the pressure on this this. man he's dealing with this situation. that strange psycholog of playing a.

First role on gas G's. quarterfinal and being the favorite. after he beats ver in. Madrid he did say people are going to. think that I'm one of the favorites to. win roll on gas I don't have it as. tension I have it as. motivation. it's been an impressive start though. from Z you mentioned about him needing. to serve well percentage 82% so. far. maybe s has just poked the. bear. carins well this is the first one that. he's really got a hold of absolutely. nail that. forand 161. K amazing quite that kind of racker. speed. SP yeah at all the uh the. quarterfinalists. incidentally the highest with regards to. forehand speed on average 130 so to push. that 37 case higher is quite amazing. it's. phenomenal k. z. speed's actually off both wings for. alcaras he's actually trailing most of. the other quarterfinalists but you need.

To put a little asteris by that he's at. two night. sessions no doubt how big he can hit the. ball can. on the forehand is not firing right now. and that is causing him all sorts of. concern yeah just talking of his box. there in Spanish with the dialogue going. on. cont. attens oh. again Zer targeting the. forehand getting exactly what he. wants What's Happening Here Nick with. this. forehand well he's not being able to get. set enough with his feet I mean zarif. actually's keeping a really good length. on the back hand trying to pin him down. and as soon as he gets a short ball he's. changing the direction to to alcaraz's. forehand side that's putting him under a. lot of. pressure get that one. right. oh. The Rock does alaras first game in. four someway off his. best reduces the deficit to just the one. game. of course this is a second quarterfinal.

For alaras an incredible. run the US Open where was able to get. the better of Steph sitz pass take a. look at some of his. numbers surprising you the most there. out of those stats. Nick well second thir points. one surprised look at zerif. there it's been absolutely impeccable so. far in this match. 73% you new balls here so change of. string tension change a racket for zif. we see the Eiffel Tower in the. background it's another beautiful sunny. afternoon in Paris again not overly. warm Remer of course Nadal versus jovic. to come in the night session. right now s of has the break leading new. balls at. 43. interesting point in that rally as well. he could have probably taken a shot on. the forehand has elected to take it on. the backand just wonder whether there. has been any mental scarring with. what's happened with the forehand so far.

In this match yeah I think maybe he just. wanted to try and get a little bit more. feel on the ball elongate the rally and. just get a bit more. Rhythm that word Rhythm that was. something that mentioned in his match. against. bias he had to save that match point he. said it took him. nearly two sets to find a. rhythm and it's always what makes the. achievements of Rafael Nadal here at. roll onar so amazing CU conditions. change the court changes players have to. adapt to all these different. situations. Kant. zero. confident L service hold from. Z. zero. can oh once again just a little bit slow. to get in. position there. just a little bit too. casual en forc their account there up at. 14 and nine of those been off the. forehand win as. well so often been saying that there is. no weakness to him finally we're seeing. a a in the armor how long will it.

Last. for. noake on the boun. smash. and that's what I was really impressed. with this second round match against. venis when it was a tricky match you. know the spanid obviously knows alcarez. you practiced together a lot came up. with a kind of different game plan give. the soft ball and alz through that match. worked his way through it didn't get the. frustration that we're kind of seeing at. the. moment despite the excellent length of. Zev this time alarz does find the. forand that will be a confidence. boosting. Point yeah looking for the one to pull. the trigger on down the. line that was a slow one just 152 that. time alarz shouting out verev shouting. out. s's pointing to the surve and so it will. be a second serve for the. Spaniard ask the. question s ver as to whether he can. serve out this opening. say as I said at the start four titles.

This year for alarz Rio Miami Barcelona. and Madrid elected not to play. Rome so what all that means is that he's. on a a 14 match win streak coming into. this one so this might feel a little. unusual hasn't been behind too often. other than that match against. folas we did have to save that match. point in set. four down three love as well in in set. five it's funny watching him though you. always feel. that irrespective of the score he's. going to come back and just turn things. around that aura about his. game. da do you think when you consider the. score line in that mrid final has that. been a factor here was was he perhaps. putting too much expectation on his. shoulders alarz 6361 well he's been. hitting the ball so well you know we saw. that against hatchin off the other night. against cter he's coming out here.

Probably expects to kind of bring that. same level and it's just not happening. at the. moment. F ch zle. hey. P. zero. he knows that Z sat very deep in the. court forehand has been a bit scratchy. the drop shot still on point. oh Under Pressure you always going to go. to what you know is. best that once again is just a delight. to. watch. that's a lovely combination from. zve talked about alcaraz's game being a. little up and down you have to say it's. been a lot tidier from what we've seen. in the last couple of rounds from sashes. verev he has two set. points. excellent set of tennis from. Sasha most of the expectation on caros. alcaraz's shoulders he's yet to really. get going but it's the German who's. taking the opening set by six games to. four I mean last year he could have. played the Juniors alarz that's how. young he is and he's just turned 19 a.

Few weeks ago. we're going to see a response though. world number. six. that's the shot that has still been. working and another Sumptuous drop. shot caros alaras CH. Z he's got to be a little careful he. doesn't go to that too often to mask the. forehand. issues well too often in Madrid he hit. 77 he won 59 of them I mean just an. incredible high. percentage. that's more like it with the. forehand you remember alcarez lives on. the academy one Callos for he's got a. house right there on site he goes to bed. at night he sees the court he dreams. about the court he wakes up the next. morning first things he sees is the. court. CL. can. throws in the ser and. volley that was pretty darn. Perfect. k is what makes the guy so exciting cuz. he got so much varing what he does I. mean that was a superb volley top B that. ball is dipping with Pace look at the.

Racket control he got. there when he first discovered him when. Carlos. Ferrero felt that there were two areas. he really wanted to improve one was. physicality but he looked like a little. bit of spaghetti they said. they've certainly done that with yto his. fitness trainer who says he never says. no to anything but the other bit was. shot selection he had all the shots that. it was what to use when worked a lot at. that referenced a couple of times seeing. him play at Wimbledon last year he was. serving and volleying and was something. when Carlos Ferrera was encouraging him. to. do. himself on the board nice and early in. set two. alaras. premier okay let's just uh show you this. Hawkeye graphic this is the Alexander. ver second serve return placement you. can see he's getting pretty good depth. 36% of those second serf returns hitting.

Uh the Deep Zone off the court compare. that to alarz hasn't found that deep. Zone on one occasion so that is. something that he needs to improve to. try and turn this match. around. CH. s counter. Z Miss we weren't. seeing at all this. year. we had the three losses remember all. year players to beat him SE cter and. Monte Carlo which was very difficult. conditions that was switching from hard. cours to Clay but it was an incredibly. windy day he lost a bartini at the uh. Australian Open in five dramatic. sets he play Just number believable. final set tie. breaker and Nadal at Indian Wales so. that's it other than that he's won all. of his other. matches 32 and. three turn. Cil well you talk about. stamina that tournament in Rio where he. played quarterfinal against bertini. turned that match around and then. literally two hours later went on and.

Beat. fognini came back the next day and beat. schwarzman straight sets I that's just. phenomenal recovery. powers and I said about Alberto yto his. Fitness coach he says he's already the. ideal size and physique for a tennis. player as usually we say tell about your. mid 20s he's there at 19. kahun. Z. serve so far set two then six seed in. front two. one. well the last couple of service games. alcarez is going to manage it first. serve much better. 60% first serves in importantly winning. the first couple of points in each. game. something he struggle with to start this. match he handed the initiative a little. bit to uh Alexander. Zer kind of feel great Champions always. love to prove a point prove Pro people. wrong might be a bit of extra fire in. the belly for verev in this. one serving one two second. set alcaraz's recent record from a set.

Down he has won three of the last four. matches when he's drop the set including. against Novak jovic in. Madrid. this is the first time this tournament. that he's dropped the opening set. because took the first set against Ramos. velas 61 before that match quickly. turned. that's a fine response to the Miss. volley. p. has been really struggling to especially. on the backhand side as well to change. the direction of the ball I just haven't. seen these sort of reactions from him. either all year. no I don't think he's missed so many. balls supposed be the start of a. match like you say pet a little bit. extra pressure. expectation try and make that grand slam. semifinal just uh. sometimes you're kind of wanting it so. much a little bit uptight don't quite. have the feel with the racket on the. ball the ball on the. racket fabulous Dennis still waiting in.

For something to get alcaraz going maybe. that will be. it well good anticipation here got a. little bit lucky with a net cord and. then once he was back in the rally and. knew exactly what was going to happen. next another drop. shot. FFC. and again to find a precious first Ser. ver to just stop any. momentum for his Spanish. opponent. that's the first. double for those that watch a lot of. tennis we know that that has been an. issue throughout s's. career much of a reaction from. p. oh well net caught helping alarz out but. look at the foot speed and the. reaction. well he couldn't hit this any harder. could he absolutely just nail that put. the brakes on before he touched the knit. and then the fist. pump. Mercy break. point. wow the the second Ser was so short. maybe caught out by surprise he had too. much. time it was too much time to think about.

It was nothing on that second serve from. Sasha zerov I don't know if he did that. intentionally not but if you did it was. a good. tactic. play this. avantage. better that's C is personified from. Zev that's a gutsy hold opportunity Miss. for. alaras who incidentally was shouting. this can't happen in. Spanish. up up. shot he knows he's got to get working. the the back hand up the line to get the. exchange onto the the forehand side of. Zev the erors will leak more often for. the German yeah a smart point there from. the Spaniard just for me just taking a. little bit of pace off the ball a little. bit more spin bit more percentage to try. and get a. feel. when you do that as a play your. confidence comes. back. Z oh. t. k there's. D Al musier he was a a decent player. himself got to about 900 in the world. but then ran out of money.

Not going to be the case for Carlos. alarz. oh. he's got him again and I think he's 100%. on the drop. shot pun was that a missed opportunity. for. Z you talk about pressure points it's. kind of tight points at 30. all once again alarz coming up with all. the. answers. oh that is. masterful from the young Spanish. Master the slide the touch. magnific alaras man holds for a 32. lead. but really. Nick the touch shots are there but the. rest is not quite there well he's bread. and butter on the back of the Court. that's the problem he's giv too many. free points away he's really struggling. to get any kind of flow in this match to. get the momentum and fluidity that we. normally see of him and the kind of run. of. points nor he's you know everything he. does he does kind of 100 miles an hour. but I mean just seeing the slide there I.

Mean this is incred incredible me the. way he actually moves on a clay CT. particularly to that drop shot his. balance. control just incredible but of course. you know he's been doing probably the. age of three years. old and I know we're still very early in. this match Nick there's a long way left. to. go for alarz how important is it if he. is to turn it around how how important. is it that he wins it in four because. tougher test to follow of course it's. either a 20time grand slam Champion or. 21 time Grand Slam Champion up. next the problem he's already beaten. them but although it's only over three. sets of course back to. back but as you got to do this in in. four can zle I'm sure he'd love to do. this for I think he needs to turn this. set around he doesn't want to be going. two sets to love down the way zerf is.

Serving at the moment otherwise that's a. huge mountain to. climb and you wonder how many lives he's. already burnt with that win over Ramos. vas remember you know he's he's playing. on. Tuesday the other quarterfinals tomorrow. that they get an extra day off so he's. got a little bit more recovery time even. if goes the. distance there is the French or the fft. president on the right. moloto. wasn't quite caught in the. crowd to keep it here sadly it. goes real quick fire service Hal as when. you. consider previous Alara service game was. a juice game just means that the German. holds on to the momentum right. now at the start of the match happy to. make alarz wait a couple of. times again just taking his time here. selecting which racket to choose and. making alcaras think a little more about. what has happened over the first hour.

And 10. minutes new balls for the. banet. can. second. turn well that's incredible that was a. total. mishit of one of the easiest PS I've. ever. seen didn't even find the court on that. one can the pum what should he be doing. here Nick in terms. of do you still feel more shape more. height well I also think he's got a very. where he serving so far in this match. he's been serving pretty predictably the. same place every single time too much of. a pattern not really kind of served in. the body at. all zarif's a big guy 6'6 got long. levers you know that's a good spot to go. at them somebody try and jam them up and. then you get first strike on the next. ball not this time for. alarz that's the first point he's lost. with the. drop more trouble for the. 19year-old turn well good anticipation. this time. from zarf did well to play that so short.

You have to say alcra is a little casual. here should have done more with that. ball two break. points. again very un alaras. like does. enough. is a difficult ball to deal with as the. hole gets deeper for Carlos alarz it's. Zev who breaks first in set two to now. lead by a set and four games to. three. well we didn't expect this before the. match. started so far Sasha Zera is. just a very high level. indeed to the. court that's why I have to love the. sport right ni you just never know what. can. happen talking about it heading into. Felix orell has seen a d match not many. people gave the Canadian much of a. chance and yet played a fantastic match. ping the doll the whole. way anything that is a little longer. alarz is doing a little better under. four it's all about sash's. Vera alcaraz in his career after losing. the first set.

The last 12 months is 8 and 10 his. career he's 23 and 30 which is quite. ridiculous anyway nearly 50% after. dropping the first set he loses sets one. and two he's 0 and. three to REM this is pretty new. territory. despite the unquestionable skill level. of the. Spaniard. also serving from has been fantastic 82%. first Ser percentage in this set 72%. overall just the 12 unforced. eras to go with 28 for his. opponent. F once again just another indication of. where his mind is. indecision to do with that kind of. shot game that. is efficiently backs up the break he's a. game away from a two sets to love. lead which would mean he would be is set. away from finally finally defeating a. top 10 player at a. major well he did it in lightning quick. time as. well link of an eye H serve and once. again. alcarez serving to stay in the.

Set. Z not the type to smash a racket caros. alaras but this might be the closest. he's. been that is Young. Kur. that's a clutch volley from. alaras oh he closes the net so quickly. at that weight on the front foot perfect. execution on the. volley well he's having issues at the. back of the court so why not take the. back of the Court. away and that's what I was so impressed. when I saw him play at wilon last year. he referencing him before in terms of. the way he was playing I mean he's. hardly playing on the Grass Court and. yet he's actually playing proper Grass. Court tennis coming in all the time ser. and. falling saving and Bing again developing. those kind of skills obviously to. utilize in a situation like this when. sometimes you got to go to plan. B I think he's probably on about Plan D. now. though. again alra will ask the.

Question got to find a way though to get. himself into a as ver of service game. otherwise he's going to find himself two. sets to love. down. as you can see 18 winners for alarz so. he's still heading more winners than Zev. but it's those 30 unforced erors that. have been the big. issue massive amount of them the. majority of them coming from the back of. the. Court 14 off the forehand 14 off the. backand. so Z serving for a two sets to love. lead. 54. oh well he can't make the. volley it's a big first point to. win. Z. wow that just shows all Juniors out. there make the. return what a dig it was a bit of a gift. from the. German he had no right to get his racket. on the ball there alcaraz a huge serve. from zerif down the te somehow he got. the ball. back. can't steal that point though tardy. tennis from the world number.

Three CH let. pun. this time makes no mistake with the. forehead and again what serving this is. from sas's. verth well not only the serve but bold. play coming in once again and it's a. tidy backhand. volley. will it be a break point or a set. point. oh it's just landed. wide it's ver doing so well once again. showing his. wheels. yeah some great moving from the German. to be able to get to that drop shot but. also control that kind of slice back and. approach with jez green will have helped. somewhat with that movement really is an. incredible mover for. 6'6 he's given himself a set. point. sense this saturated crowd just trying. to lift the. 19year-old. better second set. point. go wow I mean we can see the ball mark. from where we are that was in between. the Baseline and the service. line not the confidence boosting second.

Surf they would have wanted to. see. alarz steals the. point had absolutely no. right what. athleticism well what a lop here full. stretch wasn't quite sure what he was. going to do of course he was going to. come up with a bit of magic he always. does. Lifeline for the world number. six. well that's a frustration because again. such an easy ball and just Elementary. shot there just. completely miscued that lack of spin. lack of. control. go. confidence and belief in those shots. just isn't. there yet another unforced. error gives z a third chance to get over. the line in this. set. it's a two sets to love lead for sash. ver once again serving brilliantly. especially when it matters most takes. the second set. 6'4 so as far as alcra is concerned here. Nick I mean we've seen him try to adapt. he's he's tried to just serve him volley.

He's tried to use the drop shot so he's. not using those ground strokes is that. the key for him does he have to keep. doing that or has he actually got. to believe that his groundstrokes will. turn the corner well he's certainly got. to cut those unforced erors down no. doubt about that the for needs to be get. firing one area we talked about for me. during this match that alcr has been. unable not too often to be able to take. DF wide on the forehand. side somewhere to start set. three just had a different. sound for the many we've seen. in this match so. far Nick do you think as well you were. saying to me all fair it's tension you. believe for alarz fact he's two sets to. love down with that tension leave a. little now he's the underdog yeah I I. think he's the first point would just. say that bounce match was to get a.

Little rid of a lot of frustration I'm. sure with the way the level he's brought. in these first two sets he'd be really. disappointed and not only that but also. the way he's been striking the balls. not used to hitting so many Mish hits. and making too many free. points this was not what was in the. plan. oh. power. wow that's a ripper of a back end from. Z. yeah once again just dro the ball a. little bit short there and zerif just. stepping. in the game in fine style though. alaras first Ace. an hour and 37 minutes to find one as he. takes the first game of the third. set well a large reason why Alexander. verev is in front in this match is. because of the way that he is serving. here's just a little look at his first. serve placement in the second set alone. and just look at the accuracy look how. close he's getting it to the lines the.

Variety as well he's mixing up going. wide going down the T he's up 3K speed. Wise from the opening set as well tough. to live with if you call us. Nick as well as ver has served and he. has to superbly well the return position. from alarz very deep in the court is it. too deep for you considering he hasn't. broken yet yeah absolutely particularly. in the second survey he's not changing. his court position at all and you you. look back to those torments that he. played leading up to Roland garos that. actually he was he was actually standing. up much further up threatening to take. the ball early and just giving it you. know something for his opponent to think. about is that a sign of him not feeling. comfortable then. yeah I mean he actually funny enough he. did that against venis in the second. round in that match and I was just.

Waiting for to change his position to. move up on the second serve particularly. and and he didn't he was staying deep. all the time so it's obviously something. tactically that was part of their game. plan going into this. match. somehow he has to find a way to put more. pressure on zerf serve no doubt about. that and also in the rally you know he's. standing so far back to start with and. in a way he's trying to expect few more. free points from his opponent and that's. not. happening. he missed that one did find the. line. oh that's wonderful tennis from sashes. ver even more worrying for alcaras. record of winning points off the drop. shot he's got better and better as this. match has gone on starting to read them. now couldn't have controlled this ball. any better beautiful racket head control. and death. touch.

Can. fight f. z let's come. service. that's an excellent dig those long leav. is coming in handy for Zev. cont yeah they did well here to get this. ball back so a great shot from alos good. angle it's important thing he got the. ball back in. play. I remember Tony Pickard dav's C Captain. coach of Stephan edberg and we all. thought uh you know he'd have some magic. words during matches when it got to. tight. situations and he just turned one match. on this Davis Cup we were playing just. said um yeah just get the ball on the. island that will. do ask the. question. to find the island with that last. forehand and serve once. again third set 21 alcar. leads another factor of this match. reference jez green and the work he's. done with Sasha and the. movement do again are we underrating his. movement at the back of the court in.

Terms of alcaraz with the ball striking. capabilities he's got more from the not. would probably be getting most opponents. on the stretch setting points up butb. just has such athleticism and strength. and range it's very difficult for alaras. to get on the front foot all the time. yeah I mean of course moves great I mean. for a guy who's 6'6 incredible but. remember clay for me is not probably his. best surface in terms of move he moves. really well on a hard cour um but um I. think uh something maybe he's been. working on with brera just kind of. movement not a bad place to watch it is. it bathed in sunshine on a deck chair. outside chatrier. itself. underneath the Sun as. well serving here one. two. something a little different. alaras we saw work very early on in the. first set a sliced back end that led to. a m hit from the forehand of we haven't.

Really seen it. since now. caras. Nick when you're in the moment and. you're playing pressurized. matches is it easy to forget something. like that to to become a bit hemmed in. so to speak yeah onedimensional. absolutely I think uh you know we all. know that alra has got the ability to. have the variet within his game change. the pace change the ball fight change. the. spin and I think uh he certainly needs. to do something different here because. you know zerif is really just uh oneway. traffic at the. moment. can't. that's the other thing as well I mean. you mentioned him being so deep in the. court makes using that sliced backend. very tough because he got a long way to. travel it allows ver to get up the court. and take it out the air so it's almost. taking a shot away from him yeah and. that and that's been part of his.

Problem in this match tonight that the. return of ser alarz generally has been. dropping too short that's just uh. allowing Zer to dictate the. play. silky such a smooth back hand from. sashes. ver one the best back hands in the. business and coming up trumps. there. oh more like. it on the brakes. quickly. can yeah taking a little bit of pace off. that slide serve out wide just creating. a bit more angle giving him time to. close the. net thing to mention as well as we see. the the shadow go across the. court is okay be. good of as I said before in his press. conference about not enjoying playing. with the temperature dropping we're not. too far away from. that. as alarz has had no such issue playing. at night dropped a set in each of his. night matches so if he can win this set. temperature then likely to drop. and more than likely suit the Spaniard.

More than the. German. well arar's got away with that one zerif. once again reading that drop shot had a. play. oh. yes wondrous play from the 19y. old to find new ways to hold. serve hold again for a 32. lead well that stop volley was the best. we've seen this match from the Spaniard. absolutely spot on silky. hands of course that's the area of his. game he's. developed not seen that a lot with. Spanish players in the. past there's the unforced era profile. that's been causing the problem this. match. 36 17 off his favored forehand. side been caus him the. frustration trying to put that. aside in this next. game. so Carlos alcarez quickly out of his. chair change of ends trying to change. the momentum of this. match under zerf number three. seed serving here 23 two sets to the. good. chance. Z that's been the other problem tonight.

For me he's not been able to win that. first point on the zerf. serve so. important. conter. zle. double. fault can still take the four double. fault so as long as he keeps his second. serve point1 percentage 74%. he finally found a deep return I mean. hasn't been able to find that length off. the return since the opening game of the. match or at least the opening service. game of the match. forev another backand error though. that's a 20th now for the. Spaniard. well he said previous couple of matches. he was disappointed in himself at lapses. in. concentration we get one after an hour. and 55 minutes he's been pretty good two. double faults though in this game how. costly will they. be not costy at all superb. response and it's three all in this. third. set yeah once again the perfect response. double thought big serve three point.

Converts the game. that's one of the best and there's been. a fair few decent. ones can. Z yeah Zer did well to get this ball. back in play and he started running for. this drop shot straight away. but just too good once again from alres. look at the Back Spin he imparted on. thatter. Z. clense. Caron. k. well he needed that back hand the shots. he's been struggling on so far hasn't. made too many of those down the. line there's another Miss just wonder as. well Nick is in last two matches we're. in the night session just wondering all. the errors and unforced errors whether. that's a factor as well Nadal a lot of. the players have been talking about the. difference Court speed the air. temperature he just hasn't been able to. adapt difficult to adapt on the big. stage in such a a big. occasion. he's able to get away with that one.

Using the slice well haven't seen that. shot much at all and he has used it. coughed up a couple of unforced errors. on the forehand. side yeah I am surprised a little bit. that he has kind of varied his tactic a. little bit in this match I have to say. trying and play with a little bit more. spin bit more. safety use the angles for me he's not. kind of opened up zerf enough off the. short angles on the both ways actually. going backhand and forehand on the. cross really just trying to hit through. him from the back of the court it's not. working because he's made too many. errors and and there's the issue as well. though as I say that the court position. he so deep in the court you can't. generate angles from there. yeah it's not the match many were. expecting but it is. gripping. 34. canas once again alarz unable to win.

That first. point. First St of the set. sixth of the. match. starting to come along a little more. often right. now second set he's hit seven second. serves four of them been double. faults how big will he go with this. one. look at the return adjustment from. alcarez on top of the Baseline this. time he went. big that was enough to take away that. caught position from. alarz well Brave second serve because. alcarez like you say really. pressurizing that second. serve with his court. position. quite the four double. fults in this third set verev still yet. to face a break point in set number. three yeah famous saying I know you're a. football fan you're a man united fan as. well Ferg used to call this squeaky bum. time keep that quiet am about man. united hoping for better things next. season oh that's a fine way to start the.

Game for zare those long levers again. coming in real Handy. zero oh once again as if anticipated the. forehand down the line he was moving but. look at this perfect position just. threaded that one down the. line. Z well it's only the spaniard's second. double. fa it's come on an inopportune. moment. turn. are happy with the. bouts are big. moments. next. done brilliantly well there turning the. rally. around the hall of Spain was holding. their breath on the short forehand but. he made it. count. but he can't make that one. count that's again missing by some. distance. saved a match point already in this. tournament kind of feel with the way ver. is serving this is almost a match point. right now for Carlos. alaras great point for the. German oh coolness. personified. pressure what. pressure I mean so coolly. done joing in in the assist.

Alaras just a second Ace for. alaras. big big hold for the. 19year-old do this chatre crowd. respond living on the edge but he's. still on that. edge it's funny isn't it isn't saying. earlier about this chatrier crowd and. the intelligence of. them the nervous nature and the bitty. nature of the performance from alcaras. has has bled into the crowd hasn't it I. mean we haven't heard those sort of. Carlos chants that we have in previous. nights yeah he been pretty quiet up. until now and they're really trying to. get behind his. man he did well there to keep his nerve. under. pressure. zerif looked back on that opportunity. there that break point he had in the. last. game the climate is beginning to drop I. feel the temperature is. rising court. level vev serving to stay in the set 4. five. and this time alcarez does win the first.

Point that hasn't happened too often if. at. all zero. ch. mer. see silver. play. let. how good was that defense early on from. the backhand Wing sasis. verif. turn. well initially the first couple shots in. that rally I thought he got a little bit. passive played a little bit. safe he's got him. again of so far back couldn't get. there turn. P alcarez just sublim once again with. his drop. shot I think he's only lost one point so. far in the match when he's executed that. shot. fire got. him. awesome from. alcaras it's one of the rallies of the. match and what a time to do. it. Kant well once again look at the drop. shot here and the response he knew. exactly where that ball was going on the. crosscourt. Mery two set. points there is still hope for the new. hope. alarz alarz takes the third. set he was on the brink at breakpoint.

Down at four all but raises his level. when he really needed to to take the. third. 64 well he faced adversity didn't he for. all in that third set break point. down managed to survive that and what a. game he has just played to secure that. third. set May. Chase momentum in this match completely. now miles caros perrera on his feet. there you wonder what is going through. the mind of sashes. ver what should he be telling himself. right now. Nick well he's he's just going to tell. us he's playing the right way you know. he's going to try and keep positive keep. being aggressive from the back of the. Court exactly the same he's been doing. for the first two set well two and a. half sets in that match I have to say. and keeping that first serve where he's. getting those three. points I think the only thing you got to.

Be careful of he doesn't get too deep. behind the Baseline because alcarez once. again is just throwing in that drop. shot. and there is the drop sh shot once more. and you just wonder watching a rally. like that is that the weight. lifted off the shoulders of. alarz well we talked about alarz unable. to kind of open up the court with the. angles we're starting to see that a. little bit now happening we saw it on. that last point the forehand short cross. score. angle of these big. shots. go. what turn. on. they read the. play coner. K well this is not easy to play the stop. play off a high ball he played it pretty. well but once. againist patient Z picking that one up. and great position on the back and. volley. k. momentum firmly with the. Spaniard confident service hold to start. set. for now fully covered in. shade that why maybe sent a couple of.

Rackets away to get restrung that the. fact that it's covered in shade that the. temperature will be dropping conditions. will be. changing well he said that he wanted the. same tension in the. rackets. certainly not playing the same way as he. did in the first two sets because he's. certainly changing the ball. fight the rally ball from the back of. the. Court. coner. ziger. coner. k. it's just astounding defense from. alaras not only did he get to that. forehand what he was able to do with it. just out of this world. well his anticipation is incredible he's. already moving for that ball before zarf. even plays it anticipating the short. ball still hitting his spots with the. first. seres as long as he continues to do that. still has a lot of work to. do. well zerif had looked Rock Solid off his. double handed the whole.

Match last couple games just starting to. misfire a little bit margins especially. going down the line have. dropped. oh what a chance that. was. aage feel like he's got all the momentum. in that somewhat pops. it smothering another forehe. hat. wow that's more like it with the back. at. answer it's amazing his dad doesn't get. animated at all he just sits there. calmly all the way through he doesn't. give too much emotion away I was. watching in on the practice court last. week actually before one of his matches. and he was in one corner Brar was in the. other. corner and zerif would go and speak to. one and then come back go speak to the. other and there was there was no kind of. conversing at all and no acknowledgement. it was it was a strange kind of eerie. situation well he's found it tough. hasn't he to keep coaches with.

Him a fair few of them Seri brera the. latest on side of course his. father w. cont. simple. forand seems to have found a better. rhythm. it's an astounding. shot the outside of the. line. hasn't really had a read on the backend. either he one of the best back ends in. the. business. quality ball striking from. zif. tant oh it doesn't get better than that. it's absolutely inch. perfect forand right on the line last. shot. go. oh that is a. stinger gra though fairly confident it's. missed overly happy it wasn't called. initially as daki Mo confirming it was. wide all of a sudden this game has got. very interesting from 40 love to. juice. he. knew love that switch up though haven't. you maybe forced the error off the. return and that's why he's so smart I. mean so brave on just to throw that with. in now and again Ian he hasn't done that.

For for a while. now. yeah there was so much open space he was. never going to miss that like an open. goal to the Real Madrid fan it is caros. alaras Big hold for a 21 lead they're. all big holds from here on out you feel. for the six. seed well the forehand is back in the. game from Carlos alcarez talked about it. a little bit. already especially the cross cor angle. really think key for pulling zerif out. of position of course when he's that far. back then it is much easier for the. Spaniard to go to his favorite shot the. drop. shot would hit the winner down the. line he kind of been missing a little. bit the first two sets. somehow to fire. it of signs. F was alluding to at the sit down forand. starting to five for. alaras so have still only been broken. once in this entire. match. he. stopped sometimes been wrong in the past.

Zev he got this one right has caught the. line it would be alar as's point but. stopped for a. reason CH s suppose he's been striking. the ball well tonight so it's clearly. seeing it. well. got to be careful in. those throw close to the. front. oh that's amazing. tennis these two turning it up to. 11 well incredible athleticism for both. players here I thought alres had won the. point with this backhand volley but Zer. look how he covered the court. there great balance full stretch once. again on that backhand. side. feels as though alarz has raised his. game but with it ver has raised his as. well the crowd were a little bit in. shock. with the slow start to this one that. alcar had in. particular he was nowhere near the. levels that we've seen throughout 2022. for the first two sets. but finally after 2 and a half hours at.

Field. like we're kind of having the match that. many thought we. would and again zv just taking his time. as you were saying Nick you believe this. is a perhaps Sergio. brera tactic that's been thrown his way. well I mean I have to say I don't think. that should be allowed personally. particularly when your opponent's just. out the surf to go change your racket. for no reason it's not even a broken. string new. BS Al. Carz big strike. would you argue though Nick that adal. we've seen take time different stages so. is it that different to what we see from. the 13 time roll on GAR. Champion probably. not you got a. point so good to watch just so tidy at. the front of the court I me most. important thing I think Carlos alos has. not been drawn into that you know it's. not kind of getting under his skin or. he's kind of get sidetracked what zerf.

Doing he actually just has stayed. focused In the Zone on his own. game what. please. conflic. against. wow I mean that is tennis from the. gods oh way he moved to pounce on the. first forehand was just. Sensational yeah not only the first one. but look at the recovery time he's able. to cross over look how he's covering the. ground to get in position to be able to. execute that inside out inside in rather. forehand down the. line. another game in the bag for. alcaras looks like there's a bit more of. a stride about him too. 32 we talk about what a athlete alarz is. for me it's the way he moves on the. court as well efficiently the kind of. big steps covering the ground and also. the step behind to keeping balance when. he's running around to play that inside. out forine or like we saw in the point. before that inside in.

Shot and is that for you what allows him. to conserve so much energy those big. steps yeah I mean he's covering the. ground I mean you see it with all the. great players I mean fedro was you know. in his prime was amazing how he's able. to skip round and just be able to create. that forand from. nowhere where alarz has been. serving. canza. Z. generally throughout the sets it's far. of service percentage has followed a. similar pattern up until the end of the. set been up around the 80s high 70s and. then dropped at the. end. well you finally had about a 100 options. open to him. alarz this time just decides okay I'll. try the. L well it's just like an exhibition. point isn't it it so cooly done knew. exactly what he was going look at this. just waiting for Zer to commit himself. just pop that one up up and over thank.

You very. much only over someone 6'6 in tall and. not that much caught to use when you're. that close to the. net. oh he's taking that so. early maybe there's a bit of a change. here in the court position he's. beginning to feel more and more. confident getting himself up the court. and being. aggressive said in an interview earlier. on this week what makes him different he. said I am aggressive. in everything I do defense attack on the. practice. court haven't really seen that until the. last half. hour just about got hold of the. forehand very of giving alcaraz a taste. of his own. medicine. Stan Smith there enjoying this one front. row. seat it's a very good hold because alarz. is now asking a lot more questions. say with the first percentage is at 83%. in this set 72%. overall I mean that's those are. astounding numbers with with how he's.

Hitting that it's not like he's rolling. that first serve in well we talked about. it beginning of the match didn't we that. would be the key to trying to give him. an opportunity to win this match he had. to serve. well. cancer. zle. pter. S D look pretty really through. out. F well once again again incredible. macarez you know fully stretched there. sliced back and somehow managed to get. that Ball Deep look at that back of the. line there's no right to win that. point and had no right to win that one. either Al incredible reactive. instinctive. skills and a bit of momentum for the. Bard closes out the game to love for a. 43. lead well he's given the fist pump to. one colos Ferrero there in his box what. a pickup this was but reaction time on. that incredible I mean he's Balan look. his footwork here full. stretch that is tough Ball's coming hard.

At. him. too quick for the camera hand skill is. incredible I mean that. is amazing play and he's just loving it. he's actually relaxed now you can see. that the tension's gone completely out. of his. game he's actually enjoying the. occasion. it's interesting Nick you were just. saying alar is now enjoying the occasion. I had a chat with Tamira pasek who's. part of our team here about players. trying to enjoy the occasion how. difficult it can sometimes. be. ch seemingly is the case now for. alaras we're still on serve set. four that's excellent. play exellent footwork up to the. volley. pter. zle. F to. tense. oh typ of shot you almost expect him to. make good from the. corners. well he's been pretty disappointed all. the way through this. match couple of cheap points in this. game starting finding a little bit of. pressure on his own.

Serve. it's going to be a bit more pressure on. this second serve. now comes up with the goods pressure. what pressure as you. say four games of decent as. know get this set to a tiebreaker he'll. probably feel pretty good because this. tournament is three from three many. tiebreakers including that. 1311 first set tie break he played in. the last round against zata. Morales AR has incidentally one and one. he got a long way to go to get. there he's going to Blink. first. yeah read the. play was on his way very quickly there's. ver. Z look at this and knew as soon as he. dropped the ball short it's going to be. a drop shot great courau. coverage alar incidentally having a lot. of success with the kicker serve out. wide from the ad Court. oh it's a. beauty what a stunner from sash's. ver. Z well alaraj you have to say probably.

Needed to do a little bit more with that. drive for but what a backhand on the run. one of the best of the match from the. German. couldn't get it. away and alarz once again reads the. play what a Miss chance that is for the. German turns well that was a real. strange choice of shot here I mean I. can't believe he didn't go down the line. off this ball the the line was the ball. was high the a huge gap down. there. I haven't seen one of. those for some. time that is not the. type to smother another forehead. here are two break points for the world. number. three that. tension was there too much. time hope he hasn't looked at his. box Carlos looking a little. Cal. would you believe. it first double of the set and Sasha. verev breaks and in a few moments time. we'll serve for a place in the. semifinals the level of this fourth set.

Has been so. high did not see that coming Nick well. both players there showing sign of. nerves no doubt about that zerif firstly. without that return of serve you felt. had to make the court I mean it wasn't. particularly a big second serve and then. of course alcarez surrendering his serve. there with that double. fault shows you where they're. at it's going to. be massive ass for alcarez now to break. serve here V. pleas he's only broken One S match. Carlos. alaras can can he do it again if he. can't it's the semifinals for Sasha ver. let's. see Zero. ch. F hope. play. was a slow second. serve and a beefy return it's ver into a. hole. wow Z well he hasn't done many of those. so far in this. match that was one of the big. ones I say every set where service. percentage just drops at the. end. no would you believe. that maybe too.

Excited. turns it was on a. plate well I'm quite perplexed I can't. believe that he missed this ball and. such a big. Point actually wasn't even looking where. he was hitting it. mer still two break. points. the response of a. champion the only option was to step up. and boy did the boy step. up S breaks back and we go. on well Sensational play why are we. surprised we've seen it so often this. season. just absolutely. incredible the tennis has gone up a few. gears that was some get from. Z zero. chance reminder the German has never. beaten a top 10 player in the best of. five sets ow and. 13 well there's no doubt he tightened up. a little bit when he was sewn for the. match there last game will he get. another. chance. it's as if he's been in this situation a. thousand times. before. p. k. he send the shat crowd want a fifth.

Set will we get one didn't look likely. all of about 5 10 minutes. ago. but now it's alaras who's a game away. from taking the. set suddenly he looks all assured once. again lead. 65 well he's got nerves of. Steal just terrific tennis there I mean. even the last point we had so much time. just. to play the winner look at this just. holding holding holding just flicks it. the other way saw zerif move to his. right so easily miss a shot like. that Crow are just loving. it. pleas not a spare seat to be. found of having served for the match a. few moments ago now serving to stay in. the set. how he would have wanted a point like. that 10 minutes. ago can. Z. it's not something you expect Miss. verif beautifully. executed f. z it's an area of his game sometimes. that kind of gets him in trouble. but not on that. occasion. Z it's a simply fantastic game from.

I said earlier on in the set if he can. get to a tiebreaker he would probably. take it he's three from. three the r on garos this year he's 11. and two in. 2022 verev incidentally alcaraz. oneon-one in the in this year's. championships eight and eight on the. year which is a little surprising when. you consider how many matches he has. won. this. Exquisite he's run around the other side. of the net and stolen the shot off. alaras well you haven't seen him play. that can of shot too often in this match. and what a big point to play on the. first point of the tie. break. do zero it's. ready. go. about time for a plane to go up. overhead he's done it again. alaras wasn't doing this in the first. couple of sets he's decided to take on. that second serve of. zif gets the mini break back. f. b. wow he put most of you. qu three houses Nick on him to make that.

Volley well if I had three houses. maybe but have to say that was a little. casual from the. Spaniard a little bit. overconfident. awesome power from. alarz rev whose first Ser percentage has. just been so. high just like it was when he was trying. to serve out the match it's dropping in. the big. moments his Spaniard taking full. advantage of that. drop well once again alcra just Fearless. you know when he gets the opportunity. pulls the trigger he's hit a couple of. lines in this tie break to get himself. back on equal terms here get the. feelings verev is going to have to win. this one rather than alcaraz lose. it. so. good Al well again it's the short angle. crosscourt forehand is doing the damage. opening up the court just for him to. step in. hit the. winner that is just unplayable for the. first time in this tie break edges in.

Front. astounding. sorry of just saying how' you like my. backand well it was a really good. approach have to say what about that. that is threading the needle down the. line at full. stretch half expect the alcaras to die. for. that. on one of the biggest points of the. match alarz just toying with. saref well everybody is on their feet. after that. pointful. alaras has anyone ever played the drop. shot better than this. man. may see. mam. oh. for once arar seemingly just getting. caught in no man's. land yeah I have to say good defense. from Zera full stretch manag to get that. Ball Deep a groundy cover for that last. back. and just. superb so will it be a match point. or a set point. mer it will be a set. point. well he struggled on that shot the hole. of the match hasn't made to many those. back hands down the line but it couldn't.

Have been a bigger point to make. one. oh. c p have to love this. sport it's been an entirely. unpredictable. match and the tie break has been the. same we've seen so many mini. breaks what. next. all. oh my. word have you ever seen anything like. that you have to credit. spif the defense initially from alcaraz. was just out of this planet third the. German pist the reset button and with a. bit of. frame and a bit of string. now has the chance to get over the. line it's a match point for the. German. see. the raw will tell. you we go. on well I'm a bit surprised Zer didn't. go for his favorite serve there the t. serve because he's been serving that. Absolut impeccable the whole. match same. wman. got the tserve right that. time I think a few Germans might have. had their heart in their mouth as he. played the the stop volley we did just.

Enough. and it's a second match point for the. world number. three. it's a glorious win for sasz. ver who for this second year running. will be in the roll on G. semifinals wonderful reaction from. Carlos. alaras s yeah but today is all about the. German who finally defeats a top 10. player in a. major and it is some top 10 player he. has defeated in Carlos alaras what a. performance 64 64 46 76 in 3 hours and. 18 minutes of adrenaline fuel. tennis. Carlos. alar classy from the 19yearold who even. though has fallen at the quarterfinal. stages has won a lot of fans over the. last two weeks well just great maturity. at the end how he handled that. disappointment there speaking you know. with zarif at the net I mean just. absolutely that that is class absolutely. shown a lot of. maturity for somebody of so young and. he'll be back right oh I mean there's no.

Doubt I mean he he will learn from this. experience. Mercy Sasha in my opinion in a match. like this you need to be patience you. need to be brave you need to be. aggressive you need to defend but on top. of that you need to be very special and. you really are congratulations thank. you. yeah I think Carlos and you just bring. like a show that everybody enjoyed I. don't know if is it possible to enjoy. when you are playing a match like that. and especially finishing in a tiebreak. and saving match points losing your. serve for the. match my pants as well uh um. yeah I mean at the end of the day I knew. that I had to play my absolute best. tennis today from the from the start on. and um I'm happy that I did that. obviously uh he kept on coming back he's. uh an incredible player I told him at. the net you're going to win this.

Tournament a lot of times not only once. so um I hope I can win it before he. starts beating us all and we will have. no chance at all and uh. yeah. definitely a nice compliment for him of. course he was so an unbelievable but how. difficult it was the transition because. when you started it was sunny the ball. was bouncing very high especially of. your forehand and your Surf and then it. was much slower I don't know if it was. difficult to adapt yeah for me for me I. mean obviously when it's shady and much. slower it's not perfect for me you know. I uh I didn't get broken once when it. was sunny um obviously the ball was a. lot faster I had to adjust my strengths. as well so um I mean the match was. turning his way so at the end of the day. I'm I'm extremely happy that I won the. tiebreak I didn't have to play a five.