Carlos Alcaraz hands Jannik Sinner first loss in 2024, reaches Indian Wells final – Desert Sun
It appears nothing can stop Carlos Alcaraz on a tennis court. At least not at Indian Wells.
On Thursday, a swarm of bees ran him off the court. On Saturday, he needed to overcome a three-hour rain delay and come from down a set against a player chasing a historical start to the 2024 season.
But the 20-year-old Spanish tennis star somehow made it through to Sunday’s final at the BNP Paribas Open final, following a 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Jannik Sinner of Italy on Stadium Court at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
Alcaraz, the second seed in the draw, will now play in Sunday’s final, against Daniil Medvedev of Russia, for a chance to become the first player, man or woman, to repeat as Indian Wells champion since Novak Djokovic won a third consecutive title here in 2016. The two met in last year’s championship too.
“We were laughing about it with Jannik when it suspended, because I had bees, had the rain,” Alcaraz said. “Let’s see what’s gonna happen tomorrow. Maybe a random guy… Who knows?”
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The loss ended Sinner’s remarkable unbeaten run to start the season. At 16-0 prior to the match, Sinner, the third seed at Indian Wells, was attempting to become just the fifth man in the history of the ATP Tour, which began in 1990, to start the season with 17 consecutive wins. The only four to accomplish the feat are Djokovic (2011, 2013, 2020), Roger Federer (2018), Rafael Nadal (2022) and Pete Sampras (1997).
Struggling with his serve, Alcaraz went down a break in the fourth game of the first set. Alcaraz won just 56% of the points on his first serve in the set, while Sinner went up a double break and held his own serve to close out the set.
But in the second set, Alcaraz adjusted his strategy. He improved his first serve percentage (67%) and saved both break points he faced. Most importantly, he won the point the one time Sinner faced a break point.
With Spanish flags waving throughout the stadium and one sign in the crowd that read, “King Alcaraz,” Alcaraz carried momentum from the second set into the third and went up a break in the third game. Feeling the sense of urgency, Alcaraz raised his energy level and moved his position on the court several times to keep Sinner guessing.
Sinner, 22, appeared to be bothered by his left calf, and then his left wrist after taking a fall, while Alcaraz had far too much energy and vigor to be stopped.
“I had some problems, just small problems, but it was OK throughout until the third set,” Sinner said of his ailments. “Then when I fell, I felt a little bit the elbow because I fell over the elbow and I rolled over. So was for me tough to serve.
“But he makes things very difficult to play, obviously. He puts a lot of pressure on you. You know, he changed a couple of things today, like, tactically, which I have to watch out for the next time. I have to improve a couple of things and try to beat him again.”
The match began around 1:30 p.m., but only 20 minutes into it play was paused due to light rain. Players remained on the court with umbrellas. At 1:56 p.m., players left the court as the rain continued, and they were brought back out at 2:13 p.m.
But they left the court again at 2:24 p.m. and did not return until 4:48 p.m. The match resumed at 4:56 p.m. By the time the match ended, at 6:45 p.m., more than five hours had elapsed.
“It’s difficult to start the match and then have to stop, start again,” Alcaraz said. “But I’m really happy with the things that I did in that stop, warmup again, really focus again. I didn’t start pretty well, but really happy to overcome that problem and end the match playing a high level.”
It was the fourth day during the two-week tournament that play had been suspended due to rain.
Alcaraz also endured another stoppage, during his semifinal match, with Alexander Zverev, on Thursday when a swarm of bees disrupted play and stung Alcaraz on the forehead. Play was suspended for more than two hours, but that too did not seem to faze Alcaraz, who dominated the match, 6-3, 6-1, once the players resumed.
On Saturday, with several stars on hand to take in the action — including tech mogul Bill Gates, actress Charlize Theron and tennis icon Rod Laver— Alcaraz did not disappoint.
After dropping the first set, Alcaraz tightened up his serve, played more balls closer to the net and controlled the remainder of the match while regularly utilizing his lethal slice. Of his 16 winners, 15 of them came in the second and third sets.
“I was too predictable at some points,” Sinner said. “I was doing the same things over and over again, which in my mind let me down.”
The crowd of more than 15,000 inside Stadium 1 rode the dramatic wave of momentum that shifted in the match, and multiple jaw-dropping rallies drew a roar from the crowd and instantly made the rounds on social media. The ATP Tour touted one of the rallies as the “point of the year” on the tour.
“This is extraordinary tennis,” Jim Courier said on the Tennis Channel broadcast.
The end came quickly for Sinner after he went down a break in the third set. Alcaraz seized the moment, went up another break and held on to serve out the match for the win.
Now, a year after becoming the youngest man to win this event since it became a Masters 1000, with the start of the ATP Tour, Alcaraz will have his shot to become just the fifth man in that time to win back-to-back titles here.
Before his first match at Indian Wells last week, Alcaraz told reporters that he was here to defend his title. He said that he didn’t come to Indian Wells for anything less.
On Saturday, after he had overcome the bees, the rain delay and the only remaining unbeaten man on the ATP Tour, Alcaraz wrote a message with a marker on the lens of a television camera: “One more step.”
Andrew John covers the BNP Paribas Open for The Desert Sun and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at [email protected].
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