Carlos Alcaraz had to battle through “difficult moments” to reach the first indoor final of his career. The Spaniard defeated Hubert Hurkacz in the Rotterdam Open, setting up a crunch showdown with Alex de Minaur.
Alcaraz struggled to a 6-4 6-7 6-3 victory over Hurkacz and found himself 4-1 down in the second set, only to win the next five consecutive games. Hurkacz held his nerve to take the match to a deciding set, in which his 21-year-old opponent triumphed.
A difficult start to the year saw Alcaraz beaten in the Australian Open quarter-final by Novak Djokovic. However, he will now play in his first final of 2025 despite not reaching his usually high level, something that will please his camp.
« I’m happy to have maintained the intensity and level and above all the high energy after having lost the second set. Of course, I have had difficult moments like when I was 1-4 and 0-40 down in the first set,” Alcaraz said afterwards.
« I was impressed with Hurkacz’s level at the start, especially with his first serve and his baseline play. I didn’t have a different level during the match, I was just able to recover from a bad moment. I played against an incredible opponent who had a very strong start. I just fought and waited for my moment.
« It’s my first indoor final, it’s something special because there’s been a lot of talk about my performances on this type of court, so tomorrow is a good time to show that I can play well in these conditions.”
Alcaraz admitted that he remains some distance from his very best form. He carried a cold into the tournament and insists he is not 100 per cent fit.
He continued: « I was a bit in trouble, I guess. I just felt every ball until the end. That’s all I was thinking about, and I knew that I was going to have my chances.
« His level at that time was unbelievable, really high, so I knew that it was about time. So I’m really happy to have been able to fight every ball and to save the break points that I had to [save] to not be 1-5 down. I’m just happy to be able to do it and, in the end, it paid off. »
De Minaur comfortably defeated qualifier Mattia Bellucci 6-1 6-2 to reach the final. Italian Bellucci had stunned Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets in the quarter-final.
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