Playing perhaps the most inspired tennis of his nascent career, Carlos Alcaraz was put to the test against Miomir Kecmanovic in the Miami Open quarterfinals, but managed to overcome the Serbian to reach his second consecutive ATP Masters 1000 semifinal.
The Spaniard rallied from a set down to pull off the 6-7(5) 6-3 7-6(5) victory, enduring two hours and 23 minutes of a relentless attack by Kecmanovic. Both men exchanged breaks in the opening set, before the Serbian prevailed after some aggressive but consistent play in the tiebreaker.
Not one to be deterred, Alcaraz upped his intensity in the second set. The 18-year old saved the lone break point faced, while capitalizing on his sole break point opportunity to send the match to a decider.
With the crowd relishing every minute of this electric match, neither man was able to obtain a break point in the final set. It all came down to a second tiebreak, during which Kecmanovic established a 4-2 lead. However, his Spanish opponent showed his grit and remained poised to break back, before sealing victory with a backhand winner.
Already assured of a spot in the Top 15 when the rankings are released next Monday, Alcaraz will look to dethrone defending champion Hubert Hurkacz when the two meet in the semifinal on Friday.
Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.
As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.
With a background in storytelling and a creative mind always searching for meaning beyond the scoreboard, I aim to craft narratives that go deeper than results and rankings. Whether it’s a rising star breaking through or a veteran fighting off Father Time, I try to capture the heartbeat behind the headlines.
HARD ROCK CARLOS 🎸
@alcarazcarlos03 soloes to a breathtaking 6-7(5) 6-3 7-6(5) victory over Kecmanovic to reach back-to-back semi-finals in Indian Wells & Miami!
#MiamiOpen