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Carlos Alcaraz's loss to Tommy Paul in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Canadian Open has left tennis fans in a state of disbelief.
On Friday, Alcaraz and Paul faced off in a rematch of their second-round clash at last year's edition of the Canadian Open. The American upset Alcaraz for the second year in a row, securing a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 victory in two hours and 20 minutes to advance to his maiden ATP Masters 1000 semifinals.
Toronto has witnessed a week of upsets, with several top 10 seeds crashing out of the tournament early. Frances Tiafoe and Felix- Auger Aliassime suffered defeats in the first round, followed by Stefanos Tsitsipas, Holger Rune, and Andrey Rublev in the second round.
Subsequently, Casper Ruud and Taylor Fritz were ousted from the tournament in the third round. Adding to the string of surprising upsets, top seeds Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev have now lost in the quarterfinals.
Several fans poked fun at the downfall of the top seeds at the ATP Masters 1000 event.
"I blame Canada in general because all the top players flopping like this is not ok," a fan tweeted.
"Week of every top player playing like an amateur," another fan chimed in.
One user joked about Tommy Paul's apparent dominance over Carlos Alcaraz in Canada preventing the Spaniard from claiming the GOAT title in the future.
"Despite retiring with a record 35 Slam titles, Alcaraz was not considered the GOAt due to his inexplicable 0-11 career record vs Tommy Paul in Canada," a user posted.
Here are a few more fan reactions:
"I played a really good match today" - Tommy Paul after win over Carlos Alcaraz in Canadian Open QF
Tommy Paul put on an electrifying display in his quarterfinal clash against Carlos Alcaraz, securing his first win over a World No. 1. The American won 21 of 23 net points and capitalized on his exceptional defensive skills to elicit 17 unforced forehand errors from the Spaniard.
After the match, Paul expressed satisfaction with his performance. He emphasized the importance of adopting an aggressive approach to prevent Alcaraz from dictating the points and seizing control of the match.
"I played a really good match today. I really went after my shots. You can't start any points on your heels against him or he'll take advantage of that. So you really have to go after your shots early in the rally and I was feeling really good on the first-strike tennis. That was the difference today," Paul said in his post-match interview.
Following his win over Carlos Alcaraz, Tommy Paul will be up against the winner of the match between Jannik Sinner and Gael Monfils in the semifinals of the 2023 Canadian Open.
