Carlos Alcaraz had to battle through “difficult moments” to reach the first indoor final of his career. The Spaniard defeated Hubert Hurkacz in the Rotterdam Open, setting up a crunch showdown with Alex de Minaur.
Alcaraz struggled to a 6-4 6-7 6-3 victory over Hurkacz and found himself 4-1 down in the second set, only to win the next five consecutive games. Hurkacz held his nerve to take the match to a deciding set, in which his 21-year-old opponent triumphed.
A difficult start to the year saw Alcaraz beaten in the Australian Open quarter-final by Novak Djokovic. However, he will now play in his first final of 2025 despite not reaching his usually high level, something that will please his camp.
“I’m happy to have maintained the intensity and level and above all the high energy after having lost the second set. Of course, I have had difficult moments like when I was 1-4 and 0-40 down in the first set,” Alcaraz said afterwards.
“I was impressed with Hurkacz’s level at the start, especially with his first serve and his baseline play. I didn’t have a different level during the match, I was just able to recover from a bad moment. I played against an incredible opponent who had a very strong start. I just fought and waited for my moment.
“It’s my first indoor final, it’s something special because there’s been a lot of talk about my performances on this type of court, so tomorrow is a good time to show that I can play well in these conditions.”
Alcaraz admitted that he remains some distance from his very best form. He carried a cold into the tournament and insists he is not 100 per cent fit.
He continued: “I was a bit in trouble, I guess. I just felt every ball until the end. That’s all I was thinking about, and I knew that I was going to have my chances.
“His level at that time was unbelievable, really high, so I knew that it was about time. So I’m really happy to have been able to fight every ball and to save the break points that I had to [save] to not be 1-5 down. I’m just happy to be able to do it and, in the end, it paid off.”
De Minaur comfortably defeated qualifier Mattia Bellucci 6-1 6-2 to reach the final. Italian Bellucci had stunned Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets in the quarter-final.
