Carlos Alcaraz beat Francisco Cerundolo 6-3 7-6 (7-4) to reach the semifinal at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
Alcaraz has become the third player in history to reach the semifinals or better at Indian Wells four or more years in a row joining a n exclusive list that includes Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.
Alcaraz reached the semifinals in the Californian desert in 2022 (losing to Rafael Nadal) and won two back-to-back titles in 2023 and 2024.
Alcaraz faced a tough match against Cerundolo, who held at least one break point in each of his first three service games. Both players traded holds in the first seven games of the match before Alcaraz earned the first break to take a 5-3 lead. The Spaniard served out the first set 6-3 with a hold at 15 in the ninth game.
Cerundolo converted his third break point in the fourth game before holding serve to 15 in the fifth game to open up a 4-1 lead. Alcaraz broke back in the seventh game at 30 before holding at love to draw level to 4-4. Alcaraz had to stay in the set twice in the 10th and 12th games and came within two points of losing the second set, as he was serving at 4-5 deuce.
Alcaraz opened up a 3-0 lead in the tie-break. Cerundolo pulled one mini-break back but Alcaraz never looked back and held on his serve to close out the tie-break 7-4 after 1 hour and 43 minutes when Cerundolo hit a backhand return into the net.
Alcaraz converted two of his three break points to improve to 2-0 in his head-to-head matches against Cerundolo.
Alcaraz set up a match against Jack Draper, who has reached his first Masters 1000 semifinal.
“Today was about surviving. I was trying to get a good rhythm, a good pace to the match, trying to take the opportunities that he brought to me. I’m proud of everything I’ve done today”, said Alcaraz.
