Madrid Masters 1000: a birthday Alcaraz, a lucky loser and one who persevered and triumphed encourage the semi-finals

He Masters of Madrid 1000 He will play his two semi-finals this Friday. The first, which will start at 11 in Argentina, will face the Spaniards Carlos Alcarazfavorite and defending champion, with the Serbian Born Coric, seeded 17th and 20th in the world. The second, scheduled at 15:00, will have two unexpected protagonists: the German Jan Lennard Struffentered the draw as a lucky loser, and the Russian Aslan Karatsevcoming from the qualy.

Struff, who had put an end to the adventure of Pedro Cachin In the magic boxstruck the blow by defeating the Greek 7-6 (7-5), 5-7 and 6-3 in the quarterfinals Stephen Tsitsipasfifth in the standings, and added his second win of the season (fifth in his career) against a top 5 player. A few weeks ago he defeated the fourth-placed Norwegian Casper Ruud in the round of 16 in Monte Carlo.

German has become the third lucky loser to reach the semifinals of a Masters 1000 in the history of this category (started in 1990). The first was Swedish thomas johansonin Toronto 2004 (lost to Roger Federer) and second, the Frenchman Lucas Pouillein Rome 2016 (said goodbye to Andy Murray).

Karatsev, meanwhile, won 7-6 (7-3) and 6-4 against the Chinese Zhizhen Zhangone of the great revelations of the contest, and for the first time in his career he entered the top four in an event of this level.

Russian, 121st in the world, is the second player from the previous stage to reach the semi-finals in the history of the Madrid tournament. The other was French santoro factory, which in the 2002 edition surprised top seeded Tommy Haas in the second round; in eighths, a David Nalbandian; and in the quarterfinals, Roger Federer, then seventh in the standings. And then it was the turn of the Czech Jiri Novak.

In Madrid, Karatsev defeated Struff in the last qualifying round and entered the main draw. The German came on shortly after, after the Frenchman had been lost through injury Constant Lestienne.

Now, the two now share a special record: because it will be the third time in a Masters 1000 where two players who have played in the previous stage of a tournament will play in the semi-finals of the main design.

In Paris 2004, radek stepanek AND Max Mirni they clashed in one of the semifinals. The Czech prevailed in three sets and then lost the title to Marat Safin. And in Hamburg 2005, Richard Gasquet hit Christopher Rocco and reached the final, where he was beaten by Federer.

Struff and Karatsev, alike, are not complete strangers on the circuit and have already celebrated big victories in major tournaments in the past.

The German knew how to get off Stan Wawrinka already in the second round of the Paris Masters 2016 Alexander Zverev, in the third of Indian Wells 2019. Both the Swiss and his compatriot were third in the standings at the time of those defeats. In August 2020 it peaked at 29th on the charts and in 2021 he played the final in Munich (the only one for him so far), which he lost to Nikoloz Basilashvili.

Last year, in Miami, he suffered a foot injury, which affected him for the rest of the season and dropped him to 168th of the year. But he recovered physically and a few weeks ago he was the surprise Montecarlo, where he also started in qualifying and reached the semifinals, thanks to that victory against Ruud. Then he lost against Andrei Rublev, who ended up shouting champion. Located today at 65th place in the standings (it was 103rd when the entry list de Madrid, that’s why he had to play the previous stage), he will take his revenge this Friday.

Karatsev stormed the circuit at Australian Open from 2021 to 27 years. He topped the leaderboard and advanced to the semifinals, in which he lost to Novak Djokovic. He was the first player in history to reach that instance of a Grand Slam in his debut in that category. With great confidence, a few weeks later he won his first title, in Dubai. And in October she added the second and won Flybefore his people. That year he was also a finalist in Belgrade.

In early 2022, he won his third trophy sydneywith victory against Andy MurrayAND came to occupy the 14th place in the standings in early February. But then he lost consistency, didn’t get good results again and dropped to 59th place. The crisis worsened in this 2023. On April 17, he appeared 129th, his worst ranking since August 2020, and arrived in Madrid with a record of four wins and seven losses at ATP level. But in magic box it was discovered

Alcaraz, for a special birthday present

On his twentieth birthday, Carlos Alcaraz He will be looking to enter the deciding instance of a Masters 1000 for the fourth time and take another step towards defending the title, which he won last year. The Spaniard, number two in the world, will face the Croatian Born Coric20th in the standings, who will go to his third final in this category.

The Murciano – which comes from the defeat of the Russian in the quarter-finals Karen Khachanova, seeded tenth, 6-4 and 7-5- will play in its sixth semifinal this season. She has achieved that instance in all the competitions she has played: Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Indian Wells, Miami, Barcelona and now Madrid. He only lost one: in Miami, against Jannik Sinner. He has won three titles in this 2023, in the Argentine competition, in the Californian desert Masters and in the Conde de Godó.

Carlitos is looking for his fourth crown at this level, after those won in Miami and in magic box last year and the one won at Indian Wells in March.

Coric, 26, beat the German in the quarterfinals with a double 6-3 Daniel Altmayerother lucky loserand extended his huge week in the Spanish capital, in a tournament that was already the best of his 2023. It is that until this race, the Croatian, current champion from Cincinnati, had not been able to add more than two victories of row in the season.