By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Carlos Alcaraz was a man on a mission after defeating world no. 1 Jannik Sinner during the grand finals of the China Open- 6.7, 6.4, 7.6- on October 2, 2024, held in Beijing.
With the win, Alcaraz completed a hat-trick ATP success over his nemesis after taking him down in Indian Wells and Roland Garros before the championship duel in China.
However, Alcaraz had to bring all the tricks up his sleeve after coming back from a 0-1 deficit that stunned Sinner in the last two sets.
A familiar beginning haunted Alcaraz as strings of unforced errors and unexpected fumbled opportunities doomed him from taking a lopsided lead.
The Spanish sensation initially had a narrow advantage at the start of the opening set but Sinner quickly capitalized on Alcaraz’s miscues to wrap up the final four game sets in style.
With momentum on his side, Sinner started the second set on a high note after blasting Alcaraz with back-to-back forehand bombs.
Just when Sinner thought Alcaraz would continue to struggle just like his meltdown in the US Open, the Grand Slam champion showed a different dimension of his game and brought out a series of clinical defensive stands to frustrate the Italian ace.
Instead of going for an all-out offensive barrage, Alcaraz began his comeback with his defense and threw lobs to demoralize Sinner who started to pile up costly errors.
That then paved for Alcaraz to switch stance and revert to his bully tactic as he pushed Sinner away from the baseline with his heavy forehand groundstrokes.
With the successful tactical move that Alcaraz executed, Sinner quickly went flat and never recovered, surrendering the final game exchanges to the Spanish stalwart who wanted all the smoke in the baseline rallies.
“I played great points just to make 3-all and after that I just thought to go for it. If I lost it, at least I went for it. So that’s all I thought in that moment,” said Alcaraz after winning another major title.
