At 5-5 in the second set, Alcaraz seemed to buckle under Fils’ pressure, going down 0-40 on his serve. Two good points got him back to 30-40. With one more break chance, Fils slowly took control of a long rally, running around to hit forehands, and forcing Alcaraz to come up with short-hop backhands near the baseline. Finally, Fils had a look at an inside-out forehand. He fired it toward the sideline; for a split-second, the ball looked like it would go for a winner. Then the electronic voice spoke: “Out.” Alcaraz had reached deuce. Breathing a sigh of relief, he held, then played a much more upbeat game to break for the set, finishing with a perfectly measured reflex lob winner. The grin was back.
Fils’ best chance, it turned out, had come and gone. But instead of caving, he forced Alcaraz to earn it. Down 1-3 in the third, the Spaniard kicked into another gear, while the Frenchman may have succumbed to nerves. Fils opened the door with an error-filled game at 3-2, and Alcaraz barreled right through it. At 3-3, his backhand began to click. At 3-4, Fils tried to counter by going even bigger with his forehand, but sent the ball into the net and the doubles alley instead. Fils was broken for 5-3. A second or two later, so was his racquet.
“Honestly, I just wanted to stay strong and wait for my chances,” Alcaraz said after his 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 win. “He puts a lot of pressure on his opponents, I could feel it in some moments. He made a few mistakes and I tried to make the most of it.”
