Alcaraz to face Carreno Busta in Barcelona final after epic encounter with De Minaur
The delayed Barcelona semi-finals took place on Sunday morning – ahead of the afternoon’s final
Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz Garfia reacts during his semi final match against Australia’s Alex de Minaur (Panoramic)
Barcelona Open | Draw | Order of play
It will be an all-Spanish final in Barcelona as Carlos Alcaraz is set to face Pablo Carreno Busta in the showdown.
After Saturday’s order of play was disrupted due to rain, both semi-finals were rescheduled for Sunday morning; that followed a disruption of play on Thursday for the same reason.
And the older Spaniard got his part of the job done quickly, dismissing Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 6-4.
“Barcelona is my home, it’s very special to me to reach the final here,” he said afterwards. “In the final I have to be 100% and play 100% again. I will try to enjoy it – it’s not normal to be in these situations!
“After yesterday, [when] we played four games, it was positive for me to have one more day to have rest after six hours played on Friday – I was so tired. I feel very good, I feel comfortable. It’s very important to be at home.”
Alcaraz – No time to be tired
The teenager, however, had a much tougher time of it in a massively tight encounter with Alex de Minaur, with the first two sets both going to tiebreaks, and Alcaraz having to save two match points in the second to force the decider.
He served out a hard-fought win, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-4, in an epic three hours and 38 minutes – hitting 50 winners compared to 46 unforced errors.
“I was lucky,” he said afterwards. “I don’t know how I did it. It was really close. It was fighting out until the last ball. I had my chances, I did it at the end of the second set, breaking his serve twice.
“It’s tough to play a final after this match, after the whole week, but it’s a final – you have to give 100%, you have to fight until the last ball. There’s no time to be tired now.”
The final will take place not before 5.30pm local time (4.30pm in the UK).
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