Alcaraz
On March 31, local time, the ATP Miami Masters ended the competition for two men's singles quarterfinals in the first half, the top seed Medvedev lost to defending champion Hulkach, and Spain's Youngster Alcaraz reversed and defeated Katsmanovic.
At one point just two points away from defeat in the decider, Alcaraz trailed 3-5 on 4-5, 15-30 and the tie-breaker, but with a decisive shot on key points, Alcaraz grabbed seven consecutive four-pointers in the final stage of the decider to defeat Serbia's Kecmanovic 6-7 (5)/6-3/7-6 (5). After cashing in on match points in the 2-hour,23-minute match, Alcaraz got on his knees to celebrate his feat of reaching the final four back-to-back in the Sunshine doubles.
Hulkach
However, for the young Alcaraz, there is not much time left for him to recover, and less than 24 hours later, Alcaraz will be back in the lineup to storm the first Masters final of his career, against defending champions Hulkach, who beat world number two Medvedev 7-6 (7)/6-3 with two wins to the title.
For Medvedev, losing the quarter-final also means he will not be able to return to world number one next week, with Medvedev holding the throne for three weeks from February 28 to March 21. Serbian King Djokovic will remain world number one with a narrow gap of 10 points, and the battle for the throne will be revived at the Monte Carlo Masters, which begins on April 10.
Polish player Hulkac extended his winning streak at the Miami Masters to a 10-game winning streak on New Year's Eve, lifting his first Masters title trophy of his career at last year's tournament and equalising his record against Medvedev to 2-2.
The men's singles semifinals between Alcaraz and Hulkac will start no earlier than 19:00 local time on April 1 (7:00 a.m. Beijing time on April 2), which will also be the first meeting between the two.
(Text, Editor/Faye Wong, Photo/Visual China)