ATP Masters in Miami, Semifinals, Saturday, 02.04.2022
Is the Miami Masters the new place to be for surprise winners? None of the absolute top favourites may be in the semi-finals, but in the second battle for the final we do find players who should have been on the cards.
One is the defending champion, the other, at 18, the absolute super-youngster of the tennis scene. The betting companies have settled on the younger of the two, which is the conclusion I come to in my Hurkacz Alcaraz tip!
It was almost exactly a year ago that Hubert Hurkacz beat one top player after another. Denis Shapovalov, Milos Raonic, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev, they all had to die.
The Pole finally won the final against Jannik Sinner 7-6, 6-4 and is now well on his way to repeating his triumph. Although he was not one of the top favourites from the beginning, he is among the top four.
Who knows, maybe he will even succeed twice, because he has already reached the final in the doubles. In the singles competition, of course, his performance in the quarter-finals was particularly excellent, as he beat none other than Daniil Medevdev.
After a long, hard-fought tiebreak, Hurkacz secured a 6-3 and was through to the semi-finals. Because his performance was so brilliant or because Medvedev has not been in top form for weeks?
It was probably a mix of both, but anyone who serves 86% on the first serve certainly didn’t advance just because of a bad opponent. Hurkacz only used three of 14 break chances, there is still room for improvement here.
He had previously beaten Lloyd Harris and Arthur Rinderknecht in two sets, but needed a third against Aslan Karatsev. The 25-year-old played three tiebreaks and the fact that he won all of them speaks for his strong nerves.
Since he already won against Medvedev in the underdog role of the bookmakers, it won’t bother him that he has to go with a 2.75 at Betano and Co. this time as well. So the favourite in this semi-final is only 18.
The bookies actually expected Carlos Alcaraz much more than Hubert Hurkacz. The youngster has already shown since last year that he is willing to rise to the absolute top of the world soon.
Already ranked 16th, the top 10 is expected to drop soon. His strong performances in Miami are not surprising, after all, the title in Rio and the semi-final at Indian Wells have already shown how good he is.
The only match in which Alcaraz would have to struggle a little was in the quarter-finals, against what should have been an easy opponent. At 6-7, 6-3, 7-6 against Miomir Kecmanovic, his progress was on a knife’s edge!
Before that, the Spaniard had won his matches rather quickly. Whether Marton Fucsovics, Marin Cilic or even Stefanos Tsitsipas, they all failed to win a single set against Alcaraz.
In fact, he is so clearly favoured in the semi-finals that the odds don’t even make it to 1.50. He has never played Hubert Hurkacz, but nobody is safe from the defending champion in Miami.
My Hurkacz Alcaraz Tip
Aren’t the bookies a little too sure that Carlos Alcaraz will make the final? Of course, the 18-year-old showed great performances in Miami, but had to tremble quite a bit against Miomir Kecmanovic.
Hubert Hurkacz is once again so comfortable in this tournament that even Daniil Medvedev had nothing to oppose him.
We see more than 21.5 games!
