Alcaraz praises rivals at Barcelona Open

"The best ball of the game belongs to him," Alcaraz praised Davidovich Fokina after the game. "He played very well, with a lot of good balls, maybe more than me. It was a very interesting game."

The ball that Alcaraz mentioned was the situation where Davidovich Fokina successfully took advantage of the break-point, to shorten the score to 2-3 in the second set. Alcaraz counterattacked the ball heavily, but Davidovich Fokina caught the net and sent the ball very short to the Alcaraz field, and then spun back into the other court, making it impossible for Alcaraz to save the ball.

In a match that lasted more than two hours, Davidovich Fokina matched the number two player in the world. Both players have 11 break-points. Alcaraz took advantage of four opportunities, while his fellow Spanish opponent took advantage of three. Alcaraz won a total of 85 points, while Davidovich Fokina also had 81 points.

Alcaraz needed a tie-break to win the first set. In the second set, the 19-year-old player also had to wait for the game to deliver the opponent's decision to get ahead and win 6-4. In the semi-finals, Alcaraz will meet Daniel Evans - who beat Francesco Cerundolo 2-6, 7-5, 6-3.

At Barcelona, ​​Alcaraz has never lost a set in four encounters with fellow countrymen. He also won eight of the nine games here in his career. If he wins the Barcelona Open, Alcaraz will defend his title on the ATP Tour for the first time.