Photo Source: TTV
Carlos Alcaraz continues his torrid pace on the red clay of Barcelona. The Spaniard stretched his winning streak to 14 at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona with a 6-2, 6-4 takedown of Frenchman Arthur Fils, setting a final with Denmak’s Holger Rune.
Alcaraz was pushed to the brink by Fils during their quarterfinal last week at Monte-Carlo, but he was the far superior player on Saturday as he played smarter, more efficient tennis in windy conditions to improve to 21-1 on clay since the start of Roland-Garros last year.
Alcaraz hit 12 winners – one less than Fils’ 13 – but kept his unforced errors in check much better than his 20-year-old adversary. Alcaraz committed 14 unforced errors to 38 for Fils.
“The first thing that we have to be grateful for is the sun,” Alcaraz said, “but the wind was tough to deal with. It wasn’t about playing fantastic tennis, it was about making the shots you have to make and no more than that.
“I think I did it pretty well, started the match really focused on my game and being in a good position every time to hit the right shots – I’m really happy that I was able to do it.”
Alcaraz stretches his current winning streak to nine, and he will bid for his third Barcelona title on Sunday against Rune, who snapped past Karen Khachanov in decisive fashion, 6-3, 6-2.
The Spaniard is 18-5 lifetime in finals, and 2-1 lifetime against Rune. Alcaraz stormed out of the gates in the opening set, breaking for 2-1 and again for 4-1, before erasing Fils’ only break point of the match at 30-40 in the next game.
After being broken for 2-1, Fils managed to keep the second set close. He held serve three consecutive times, and even pushed Alcaraz to deuce as the Spaniard served out the contest, but he could not manage a single break of serve on the day.
Alcaraz won 64 percent of his second-serve points and saved the only break point he faced.