'Baby Nadal' flushers No. 3 Tsitsipas in 5-set stunner
“Vamos, Carlos!” the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd kept yelling. “Vamos, Carlos!” they roared. And after four hours and seven thrilling minutes, it was “Adios, Stefanos.”
Carlos Alcaraz, the 18-year-old Spanish phenom who has been dubbed “Baby Nadal,” pulled the early upset of the U.S. Open, sending third-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas home with a dramatic 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 0-6, 7-6 (5) victory.
Alcaraz closed the match with an inside-out forehand winner, and collapsed to the court following his 61st winner, his body shaking and his hands covering the large smile on his face.
“I mean, I have [no] words to explain how I’m feeling right now,” he said after becoming the youngest player to defeat an opponent ranked in the top 3 at the U.S. Open since 1973. “I just don’t know what happened out there in the court. I can’t believe that I beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in an epic match. For me, it’s a dream come true.
“It’s the best match of my career, the best win,” Alcaraz said earlier in his on-court interview.
Facing one of the premier players in the world, Alcaraz never broke. He made shot after shot, keeping Tsitsipas off balance with a deft touch on drop shots, stellar groundstrokes and a fearless attacking style.
Alcaraz was already the youngest player to win a match at all four majors in the same year since Goran Ivanisevic in 1989 and the youngest to reach the U.S. Open’s third round since 2007. Now, he is the youngest man since Pete Sampras and Michael Chang in 1989 to reach the fourth round at Flushing Meadows.
In the fourth round, Alcaraz, who reached the third round of the French Open earlier this year, will face unseeded German Peter Gojowczyk.
“He can be a contender for Grand Slam titles,” Tsitsipas said. “He has the game to be there.
Tsitsipas had become a villain for his penchant to take lengthy breaks between sets, and was booed during his previous two matches and criticized after both victories. Andy Murray, after his first-round loss to Tsitsipas said he had lost respect for the Greek star because of his antics.
The fans were decidedly in Alcaraz’s favor, sensing an upset after he took the first set with relative ease.
“I think without the crowd I couldn’t have the opportunity to play a great fifth set and be able to beat Stefanos,” Alcaraz said. “I think the crowd was really amazing. I really loved it.
It was a wildly unpredictable match featuring several momentum swings and a seesaw of emotions for the two players. After losing the first set and falling behind 3-0 in the second, Tsitsipas rebounded by reeling off five straight games and eventually winning the second set. The third set followed a similar pattern. The Greek star was up a double break, leading 5-2, before losing control. Alcaraz broke him twice consecutively and breezed to a third-set tiebreak victory.
The match swung yet again from there, with Tsitsipas bageling Alcaraz in the fourth. Neither player could convert a break point in the fifth, setting up an intense tiebreak in which Alcaraz blew a mini-break only to win it on Tsitsipas’ serve.
“I didn’t expect him to raise his level so much, especially after having lost the fourth set the way [he did],” Tsitsipas said.