By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Thursday, March 14, 202
Beating the bees is a prelude to Carlos Alcaraz’s hardest check: Beating the very best.
Reigning champion Alcaraz dodged a swarm of bees and drilled Alexander Zverev 6-3, 6-1 scoring his tenth straight Indian Wells win to arrange a blockbuster semifinal shodown vs. Jannik Sinner.
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A streaking Sinner swept Jiri Lehecka for his nineteenth consecutive victory.
Wimbledon winner Alcaraz calls Sinner “the very best participant on the earth” and sees their semifinal rematch as his hardest check of the season.
The winner will advance to Sunday’s remaining and safe the world No. 2 rating.
“Actually, I do not understand how I am gonna strategy the match,” Alcaraz instructed the media in Indian Wells. “He is the very best tennis participant on the earth proper now, surely.
“I imply, I hear some declarations from Tommy Paul that was humorous for me, that he is completely bare proper now (smiling).
“He is taking part in unbelievable, no losses this yr. I actually take pleasure in watching him play. So it should be a extremely troublesome match. It is going to be a giant problem for me and see what’s my degree, you realize, dealing with him.”
Italian Davis Cup hero Sinner has gained 4 of seven conferences with Alcaraz.
The 20-year-old Spaniard stopped Sinner 7-6(4), 6-3 within the 2023 Indian Wells semifinals. Since then, Sinner has crushed Alcaraz in each the Miami Open and Beijing semifinals.
Enjoying in windy situations at present, Alcaraz served beautifully and broke Olympic gold-medal champion Zverev 4 occasions. Will Alcaraz have the ability to make inroads on Sinner’s service video games?
Sinner didn’t face a single break level dethroning Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic within the AO semifinals and has surrendered simply 23 video games reaching his fourth straight semifinal.
“The final, I believe the final two matches that I’ve performed in opposition to him I misplaced, so I’ve to regulate a bit bit my recreation and let’s examine the way it’s gonna be,” Alcaraz mentioned. “However for positive it is gonna be probably the most troublesome match that I am gonna play this yr.”
Photograph credit score: Internazionali BNL d’Italia Fb
