Thanks to his (not easy) victory over Jaume Munar, Carlos Alcaraz will be able to defend his ATP 500 title in Tokyo, which he won last year . The Spanish derby wasn't a walk in the park for the world number 3, who appeared less incisive than usual and suffered a sharp drop in form that cost him the first set. He then had to fight back, finally managing to win 5-7, 6-3, 6-1. In the final, he will face Jiri Lehecka (no. 19), who defeated Valentin Vacherot 6-4, 6-2.
A change of latitude to arrive at the final act of the China Open, another ATP 500. In Beijing , Alex De Minaur (no. 9) will try to win his second trophy of 2026. The Australian benefited from the retirement of Hubert Hurkacz (no. 39) midway through the second set. De Minaur will face Novak Djokovic (no. 11), after the semifinal with Daniil Medvedev (no. 5) ended in a dramatic fashion with the latter's disqualification . Having lost the first set 7-5, at 5-3, 15-15 in the second, the Muscovite had one of his fits of rage and threw the ball towards the crowd behind him, hitting a spectator in the face who shortly after left the stands holding his left eye. The chair umpire then showed him the red card, sealing Djokovic's passage to his first final since the Australian Open last January.
"It was a bit of a shock, to be honest," the Serbian said. "I feel sorry for the person who was hit. I didn't really see what happened, and I hope they weren't hurt. I also feel sorry for Daniil, because I know exactly how it feels to be disqualified from a big match: I was disqualified in similar circumstances at the 2020 US Open. I'm sure Daniil didn't do it on purpose, but that's how it happened. There's something here in Beijing that pushes me to keep going."
In the other semifinal, down 4-0 within minutes, Hurkacz deserved credit for staying in the match, even managing to recover from a break deficit. But, after losing the first set 6-4, the Pole threw in the towel at 3-2 to De Minaur in the second set, while trailing by a break.
(Unioneonline)
