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Spain's Carlos Alcaraz beat defending champion Cameron Norrie of Great Britain 6-4, 6-3 to book a place in the semifinals of the Indian Wells Masters on Thursday. The 18-year-old will face compatriot Rafael Nadal in the semifinals.
Alcaraz looked in control for most of the match and even though Norrie had his moments, he was unable to stop the Spaniard's charge.
On that note, let’s take a look at three factors that stood out in Thursday's match:
#1 Both players had difficulty holding serve
Both Alcaraz and Norrie struggled to hold serve over the course of the match. The Spaniard broke the Brit six times, while Norrie earned four breaks. However, Alcaraz managed to save five break points and that proved decisive in the end.
After trading early breaks, Norrie gained the upper hand by breaking Alcaraz with a stupendous return winner in the seventh game. However, the Spaniard broke back immediately to level the set. He broke again in the 10th game to take the opener.
Norrie broke Alcaraz in the third game of the second set to go ahead 2-1. But the Spaniard once again hit back and won five of the next six games to seal a straight-sets victory.
#2 Alcaraz punished Norrie’s second serve by returning from an advanced position
Alcaraz put a lot of pressure on Norrie’s second serve by stepping into the court. Although he stayed back while returning the Brit’s first serve, he moved forward quite a bit while returning the second serve. The Spaniard hit plenty of deep returns to take control of the point immediately.
Norrie managed to land only 58% of his first serves, which gave Alcaraz plenty of looks at second serves.
In the end, Norrie could win only 27% of the points on his second serve. In contrast, Alcaraz won 48% of such points.
#3 Alcaraz's versatility shines through
Alcaraz often pushed Norrie deep behind the baseline using his powerful groundstrokes, before stepping in and playing subtle drop shots or moving forward to the net. Alcaraz won 13 out of 18 points at the net in the match.
Norrie also came forward whenever he could, but did not achieve the same results, winning only 15 out of 27 net approaches.
Also Check Out: Indian Wells Masters 2022 Schedule
