Alcaraz on Machac loss: 'I felt like I was playing a Top-5 player'

pa href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/carlos-alcaraz/a0e2/overview'Carlos Alcaraz/a admits to have had no response to the blistering tennis thrown at him Thursday by a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/tomas-machac/m0fh/overview'Tomas Machac/a, who upset the World No. 2 in the quarter-finals of the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/shanghai/5014/overview'Rolex Shanghai Masters/a./p

pAlcaraz's 12-match winning streak came to an abrupt end in a 7-6(5), 7-5 defeat at the hands of Machac, who claimed his second win over a Top-5 player (Djokovic, Geneva SF). It was a winning streak that included the pair's maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash at the Davis Cup last month, in which Machac was forced to retire at one set apiece./p

pAs he did when representing Czechia, Machac took the opening set in a tie-break in Shanghai, but the 23-year-old made no mistake of closing it out in straight sets, exuding extreme confidence throughout./p

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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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pldquo;I felt like I was playing against a Top-5 player,rdquo; said Alcaraz, who suffered his first defeat since his second-round exit at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/us-open/560/overview'US Open/a. ldquo;Not even Top 10, no, Top 5. His level was so high. I thought that he was going to give me an opportunity, a window, but he didn't./p

pldquo;From the first game until the last one, his level was so high. His ball speed, it was unbelievable. Honestly, I felt good on the court, I felt the ball really well, I was hitting well, I was moving well. But, at some points, I didn't know what to do.rdquo;/p

pAlcaraz showed signs of a second-set fightback after he had retrieved the break back, but Machac kept his foot on the gas to dismantle the Spaniardrsquo;s serve for a second time before serving out the victory with ease./p

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pldquo;It was unbelievable, it was crazy for me,rdquo; added Alcaraz. ldquo;He was pushing me to the limit all the time that I was thinking that I had to put the right ball in the right place all the time. If not, I was going to run everywhere, or he was going to make a winner. So I think that the pressure he put [on] me was the key in the match.rdquo;/p

pAlcaraz, who has qualified for the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/nitto-atp-finals/605/overview'Nitto ATP Finals/a in Turin, is next scheduled to play the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/paris/352/overview'Rolex Paris Masters/a after slipping to 51-10 on the season./p

p[NEWSLETTER FORM]/p