Carlos Alcaraz’s perfect personal record survives almighty scare in Australian Open marathon

Carlos Alcaraz reached his first Australian Open final in dramatic fashion with a stunning victory over Alexander Zverev.

The World No. 1 emerged victorious from a 5-hour 27-minute marathon 6-4 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (3-7) 6-7 (4-7) 7-5.

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Alcaraz is now one more win away from realising his dream to become the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam.

The Spaniard had only reached the last four of the Australian Open for the first time in his showdown with third seed Zverev.

Alcaraz retains epic record with Zverev win

He looked set to race into the final after going two sets up, before suffering cramp in the third that allowed the German to roar back to force a decider.

Alacaraz then found himself a break down in the decider, with Zverev serving for a place in the final.

One more point for his rival would have seen the 22-year-old forfeit his epic career record of never having lost after being two sets up in a five-set match.

Alcaraz somehow battled back to break back and win the fifth set to stretch that personal feat to 46 matches without losing from 2-0 up.

He will now face one of Novak Djokovic or Jannik Sinner in the final.

Speaking after his win over Zverev, Alcaraz said: “I always say that you have to believe in yourself no matter what you have been through.

“I was struggling in the middle of the third set, and physically it was one of the most demanding matches I have played in my career.

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“I have been in this kind of match before, and I knew what I had to do; I knew I had to put my heart into it.

“I did it and fought until the last ball.

“I am extremely proud in the way I fought back in the fifth set.”

On what it would mean to win on Sunday, Alcaraz added: “I am really happy to have the chance to play in my first final in Melbourne.

“I couldn’t be here right now without these guys [the crowd], it’s a pleasure playing in front of all of you. The way you pushed me back into the match on every ball, every point is crazy.

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AFP

“Hopefully, it will be a good support on Sunday and a great atmosphere, I can’t wait.

“Right now, my head is on recovering and trying to be in a good state to put on a show on for you.

“See you on Sunday.”

British tennis star Dan Evans joined talkSPORT Breakfast immediately after the match, in which he discussed the effect of cramp.

“It would be hard to recover for the final from that once you’ve got cramp,” he revealed.

“That’ll kill your body really, like, be really bad for the final and how to recover. But, he travels with doctors, physios, etc., etc, so he’ll be doing everything possible now to get him ready.

“He’s got two and a half days really till he plays the final.”