Jarry stuns defending champ Alcaraz in Buenos Aires

Nicolas Jarry, the No 3 seed, upended defending champion Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, the top seed, 7-6 (2), 6-3 to advance to the final of the Argentina Open at Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club on Saturday night.

Jarry, ranked No 21, will play wildcard Facundo Diaz Acosta next.

Entering Saturday’s semi-final with an 0-2 lifetime record against Alcaraz, Jarry had taken a set off of Alcaraz in both meetings. He was under pressure in a hard-fought contest that lasted one hour and 55 minutes, and always came out one step ahead of the world No 2.

Jarry earns his best career win by ranking, and improves to 8-11 lifetime against the ATP’s top 10 with his seventh match win of 2024. He advances to his sixth career ATP final, and hands Alcaraz his second loss of the season.

“Third time was the lucky one,” said Jarry after the win, which saw him out-ace Alcaraz 7-0 and save three of four break points, including two while he served for the match with a 5-3 lead in set two.

“This means a lot to me, after the battles that I have been through a couple of days ago. This was very tough physically also. I didn’t start very well, I couldn’t win many points against his serve, but I came back little by little, and I’m happy with that.”

Alcaraz has not reached a final on tour since he lost the title match to Novak Djokovic at Cincinnati last year. He has gone 18-8 in that span with four semi-finals in that span. Alcaraz was 46-2 against players ranked outside of the top 20 heading into today’s clash with the 28-year-old world No 21.

He will take his place in the Rio Open ATP 500 draw next week, where he is also defending champion.

The Chilean edged out Swiss Stan Wawrinka (6-7 (3), 6-2, 7-6 (5)) and benefited from the abandonment of Argentinian Tomas Martin Etcheverry, the No 6 seed (4-6, 7-5) earlier in the tournament.

In the previous rounds of the Buenos Aires Open, Alcaraz, ranked No 2, won against Argentinian qualifier Camilo Ugo Carabelli (6-2, 7-5) and Italian qualifier Andrea Vavassori (7-6 (1), 6-1).

Buenos Aires ATP 250, other semi-final result (Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club, clay, USD 642.615):

• Facundo Diaz Acosta beat Federico Coria: 6-2, 6-3

Read also

Argentina Open: Facundo Diaz Acosta reaches maiden ATP final

Tennis Majors