Carlos Alcaraz saw his incredible 16-match win streak come to an end last night, halted by Daniil Medvedev in the Indian Wells semi-final.
Having reached that stage, dropping just a single set, few expected the former world number one to trouble the current top-ranked player, especially in his current form.
Alas, he was solid throughout and clinical when it mattered, converting his only two break points to win in straight sets.
The measure of Daniil Medvedev’s consistent quality was exhibited by Carlos Alcaraz’s mid-match frustration, which he voiced to his team loudly enough for it to be picked up.
Carlos Alcaraz voices his frustration mid-match vs Daniil Medvedev
Speaking in his native tongue, it was reported that the Spaniard told his team: “He’s beating me in every way, in every way, in every point.”
Afterwards, he gave further credit to his opponent, as Alcaraz claimed Medvedev did something he’d never seen him do before.
Do you believe Carlos Alcaraz is already the greatest tennis player of all time?
He claimed: “Well, first of all, I just have to give credit to Daniil. I think he just played an amazing match. Since the start of the match until the end of the, you know, the match, he was playing unreal, I gotta say. I have never seen, to be honest, playing Daniil like this.”
It’s astounding to see Medvedev apply this kind of pressure to make Alcaraz feel so outmatched, especially considering it’s normally the seven-time Grand Slam champion enforcing that feeling on his opponents.
The statistics behind Daniil Medvedev’s win over Carlos Alcaraz
Of course, many will point to the two break points that Medvedev converted as the reason behind his Indian Wells win over Alcaraz.
However, arguably the real driver was his impressive serving, particularly with his second serve.
He won 74% of points behind his second serve, which was crucial considering he only managed to get 59% of his first serves in.
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Continuing to winning your own service games with relative ease applies pressure to the opponent, who will then feel increasingly stressed when they have to keep up with such consistency.
Conversely, Medvedev took far greater advantage of the Alcaraz second serve, winning 43% of points when returning it, compared to just 26% won for the 22-year-old.
