Tennis》Ekaraz spells out a strong heart! Rescue 2 points at the end of the game to reach the top 4 of the Paris Masters

Aikalaz. (AFP)

[Reporter Liang Weiming/Comprehensive Report] Carlos Alcaraz was full of stamina and withstood the pressure to save two late match points. He finally made a dramatic reversal of American 11th seed Taylor Fritz 6:7 (10:12), 7:5, 6:3. The Spanish second seed entered the top four of the Paris Men's Tennis Masters for the first time and continued to move towards the championship.

This ATP thousand-point indoor hard court competition is being held at the La Défense Arena in Paris. Aicaraz, who was originally not good at indoor hard court combat, had already won the 500-level warm-up championship in Vienna. Now he has a bye in the first round. After losing straight 2 points in the second round, Italian "slugger" Berrettini (Matteo) Berrettini retired from injury before the game, leaving the 23-year-old former world champion to rest. After a fierce battle of 2 hours and 44 minutes, he came from behind to defeat the 29-year-old Fritz, and also changed the record to 7 wins and 1 loss. "I tried to maintain a strong mental quality and not let myself down in the difficult moment of the second set." Ekaraz said that he was very happy to give it a try and push the atmosphere to a climax. "I used the enthusiasm and energy of the audience to let everyone see the game they really want to watch."

In the second set, Aikalaz fell behind 3:5. He first avoided a late match point in the service game. When the score reached 4:5, he used a diagonal forehand through the ball to resolve the crisis. The battle line was dragged into the final set. Aikalaz made a key breakthrough in the fourth game by attacking the bottom line. He won for the seventh time in his career after saving the last minute. He also became the first Spanish star to advance to the top four of the Paris Masters since Rafael Nadal in 2020.

On the other hand, Fritz prospered and then declined and was eliminated. Not only did he miss the opportunity to compete in the top 8 of the Turin year-end finals, but he also allowed the 20-year-old Spanish star Rafael Jodar to qualify for the end-of-season competition for the first time.