Indian Wells (United States) (AFP) – Jack Draper ended Carlos Alcaraz’s bid for a rare Indian Wells ATP Masters three-peat on Saturday, toppling the Spaniard to book a title clash with Holger Rune. Britain’s Draper, ranked 14th in the world, held his nerve to beat Alcaraz 6-1, 0-6, 6-4 and reach the first Masters 1000 final of his career. Denmark’s Rune, ranked 13th, triumphed 7-5, 6-4 over world number six Daniil Medvedev — who had been runner-up to Alcaraz each of the past two years.
“This one hurts,” admitted Alcaraz, who was trying to join Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic as the only men to win three straight titles in the California desert. “I don’t want to lose any match, but I think this one was even more special to me. It was difficult today, a lot of nerves in the match.” Draper ended Alcaraz’s 16-match winning streak in the California desert, leaping out of the gate and wrapping up the first set in 23 minutes as Alcaraz failed to get to grips with the left-hander’s serve.
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The second set was a mirror image of the first as Alcaraz found his range and after fending off a break point with a 137 mph ace in the opening game, broke Draper three times to level the match. “It was a strange match in all honesty,” Draper said. “Carlos came out a little flat, I sensed that. I had a chance in the first game of the second, and he came up with an ace … What happened to him happened to me, I got tight, I had low energy. I got lost out there for 25 minutes, but in the third, I was really proud of my competitiveness, my attitude and I somehow managed to get over the line.”
Draper, who lost a set to love for the first time in his career, broke Alcaraz for a 2-1 lead in the third in a game that featured a lengthy video review that showed the Briton had indeed managed to scoop back a winner off an Alcaraz drop shot without a double bounce. Upon review, umpire Mohamed Lahyani first called for the point to be replayed but then awarded it to Draper, ruling his “not up” call in the rally hadn’t hindered Alcaraz.
“Waiting for the ball reviews, they didn’t bother me at all,” Alcaraz said. “All I can say is Jack came, he played much better than me. That point didn’t affect my play at all.” With momentum on his side, Draper broke again for a 5-2 lead — Alcaraz failing to put away four game points. Draper did show some nerves as he served for the match at 5-2 and was broken, but steadied himself to seal the victory on his second opportunity.
Rune executed a thoughtful game plan to perfection against Medvedev to snap a seven-match losing streak in semi-finals. “It was to really play my game, come forward, take the ball on the rise,” Rune said of his strategy against a player known for his defense. “If you hit hard to him, he likes the pace and he responds well to being in the defense and hitting strong back. So I tried to make it difficult for him. I tried to mix it up, making every shot that he has to play annoying for him. Slices, slow slices, some mixing the tempo, hitting hard on some, looping some.”
After an early exchange of breaks in the opening set, Rune managed to grind out a key hold for 4-4, saving one break point in a game that went to deuce six times and lasted nearly 11 minutes. He broke for a 6-5 lead and pocketed the set when his rolling backhand drew another error from Medvedev, then rode an early break in the second set to victory.
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