Machac stuns Alcaraz, reaches Shanghai SF

pa href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/tomas-machac/m0fh/overview'Tomas Machac/a put an end to a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/carlos-alcaraz/a0e2/overview'Carlos Alcaraz/arsquo;s 12-match winning streak in emphatic fashion on Thursday to reach the last four at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/shanghai/5014/overview'Rolex Shanghai Masters/a.

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pCompeting in his third tour-level quarter-final, the No. 33 in the PIF ATP Rankings ignited some of his most blistering tennis to neutralise the threat of the World No. 2, prevailing 7-6(5), 7-5. In a match in which both players produced high-quality tennis, Machac found another gear to record his second win over a Top-5 opponent (Djokovic, Geneva SF)./p

pldquo;I knew that the level of my tennis would be great because I am playing the best right now, for sure,rdquo; said Machac. ldquo;I beat a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/tommy-paul/pl56/overview'Tommy Paul/a [in my] last match with an unbelievable performance. With these types of players, I have to play this level otherwise itrsquo;s 6-2, 6-3 [and] you go home, there is no other option. I am happy I managed to play like this for two sets./p

pldquo;I knew that I had a chance [to beat Alcaraz], but you never know, even with a set and 5-4 [lead] itrsquo;s still so far from winning the match. I played great tennis against him in the Davis Cup [in September], but there was this level [for] only one set. Today it was [for] two, so it was enough.rdquo;/p

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p lang="en" dir="ltr"Czech this out! ???? br /

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Machac downs Alcaraz to reach the semi-finals in Shanghai, where he will face Sinner!a href="https://twitter.com/SH_RolexMasters?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@SH_RolexMasters/a | a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RolexShanghaiMasters?src=hashamp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"#RolexShanghaiMasters/a a href="https://t.co/kabm9UMx6U"pic.twitter.com/kabm9UMx6U/a/p

mdash; ATP Tour (@atptour) a href="https://twitter.com/atptour/status/1844356123408859174?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"October 10, 2024/a/blockquote

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pMachac led by a set in his maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Alcaraz at the Davis Cup last month, but was forced to retire once the Spaniard had levelled the match. The 23-year-old made no mistake this time, however, striking 20 winners in a statement opening set before dismantling Alcaraz's serve in the third game of the second./p

pAlcaraz showed signs of a fightback after he had retrieved the break, but the Czech maintained his composure to seal victory in one hour and 54 minutes, winning 100 per cent (7/7) of points at the net in the second set, according to Infosys ATP Stats./p

[ATP APP]

pMachac, who opted to play an ATP Challenger Tour event instead of the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/shanghai/5014/overview'Rolex Shanghai Masters/a last year, is now up to No. 25 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. He will face World No. 1 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jannik-sinner/s0ag/overview'Jannik Sinner/a for a spot in the final after the Italian eased past a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/daniil-medvedev/mm58/overview'Daniil Medvedev/a to reach his first Shanghai semi-final./p

pAfter becoming the fourth lowest-ranked semi-finalist in Shanghai tournament history, Machac will bid to level his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Sinner after falling to a 6-4, 6-2 defeat in the quarter-finals of the ATP Masters 1000 in Miami./p

pldquo;I am looking forward to it,rdquo; Machac said of his upcoming clash with Sinner. ldquo;I am really enjoying it and am happy that I can play against the best [players]."/p

p[NEWSLETTER FORM]/p