Tomas Machac gave his golden year greater glow today.
Riding a fierce forehand, Machac stunned Beijing champion Carlos Alcaraz 7-6(5), 7-5, snapping the Spanish superstar’s 12-match winning streak to land his first career ATP Masters 1000 semifinal in Shanghai today.
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Machac doubled world No. 2 Alcaraz’s winner output—18 to 9—in a confident all-court display that propels him to a new career-high ranking of No. 25 in the ATP live rankings.
"I was playing unbelievable from the beginning until the end," Machac told the media in Shanghai. "The first set was just, the tiebreak, 7-4, so it was like really close, one point, maybe two points, so it was really close.
"In the second set I started to play even better, from the beginning I was a break up, but it was getting really tight. Carlos was trying to play a little bit more aggressive, also much tougher, but I manage to make even the better effort in the end of the set, so I'm really happy with that."
It is Machac’s second career Top 5 victory coming after his 6-4, 0-6, 6-1 stunner over Novak Djokovic on the red clay of Geneva earlier this season.
That upset triumph came three months before Machac and partner Katerina Siniakova captured the Olympic mixed doubles gold medal for Czechia at the Paris Olympic Games.
Today, Alcaraz said Machac was performing at a Top-5 level.
"Well, I feel like I was playing against a top-5 player, not even top 10, no, top 5, his level, it was so high," Alcaraz said. "I thought that he was going to give me an opportunity, a window, but he didn't. I mean, since the first game until the last one, his level was so high. His ball speed, it was unbelievable.
"So, I feel good. Honestly, I felt good on the court, I feel really well the ball, I was hitting well, I was moving well."
Facing Machac's attack left Alcaraz feeling disarmed in the second set.
"But, honestly, at some point, I didn't know what to do," Alcaraz said. "Honestly, it was one of those matches that it was insane that I couldn't play to his forehand.
"I mean, every time that he was hitting his forehand it was a winner, or the next ball is going to, he was going to hit a winner again. It was unbelievable, it was crazy for me."
Machac celebrates his 24th birthday on Sunday and pumped up the party today beating Alcaraz to the punch on pivotal points avenging his Davis Cup defeat to the former No. 1 Machac spoiled the prospect of a rematch between world No. 1 Jannik Sinner and Alcaraz following their epic Beijing final earlier this month and set up his second Masters 1000 clash vs. Sinner this season.
Reigning US Open and Australian Open champion Sinner crushed Daniil Medvedev 6-1, 6-4 earlier today to charge into his 10th career ATP Masters 1000 semifinal.
In a rematch of the Australian Open final, Sinner smacked nine aces against no double faults, won 28 of 33 first-serve points and faced just one break point defeating Medvedev to level their head-to-head series at 7-7.
"It was a great match for my side. Obviously we know each other a little bit better every time when we play against," Sinner said of Medvedev. "I felt like he had some shoulder problems today, and I think we all could see, so he didn't play at his best, especially with the forehand, but, you know, this can happen.
"I took advantage of that today. I felt like I was playing some good tennis, especially the first set, trying to keep going in the second set, and, yeah, it was a good performance from my side."
The 2021 US Open champion Medvedev said the sore shoulder sapped sting from his serve.
"I, unfortunately, had pain on my shoulder, which I didn't think I would have," Medvedev said. "It started yesterday during the match, but I thought it was nothing, and I still think, well, I still hope it's nothing serious, I'll have to do the checks tomorrow.
"But it didn't let me serve the way I wanted, and with Jannik serve is important, because he's a great server now, it's tough to break him, so you need to serve well, and without the serve it's tough."
A red-hot Sinner carries an ATP-best 63-6 record into the semifinals as he hunts for his seventh title of the season. Sinner stopped Machac 6-4, 6-2 in the Miami Open quarterfinals last spring en route to the Miami championship.
These days, Machac is playing with more all-court command.
Today, Machac was nearly flawless moving forward: He won 19 of 20 net points and pounded 30 winners—five more than supreme shot maker Alcaraz.
At critical stages, Machac turned his shoulders and blasted forehands frequently besting Alcaraz in forehand-to-forehand exchanges.
Machac ran down Alcaraz dropper and blocked backhand volley for the mini break and a 2-1 tiebreaker lead.
The man in the backward baseball cap froze Alcaraz ripping a crosscourt forehand strike—his 11th winner—extending to 4-2. Spreading the court with successive crackling forehands, Machac snapped a smash for 5-2.
The set was on his racquet, but Machac could not close as Alcaraz drew two errors in a row for 4-5.
Undeterred, Machac lashed a drive down the line drawing a forehand error for double set point at 6-4.
Alcaraz saved the first set point pumping an ace down the middle.
On his second match point, Machac moved forward and flashed a forehand drive volley into the corner, sealing the 62-minute opener with a big bang.
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The Machac forehand was a fierce weapon. He read the T serve and hammered a forehand into the corner leaving Alcaraz looking a little shell-shocked in breaking again for 2-1.
Serving at 3-2, Machac battled back from a love-40 hole, saving four break points. Alcaraz kept pressing and pounded a forehand to rattle out the error roaring loudly after breaking back to level in the sixth game.
Deadlocked at 5-all, Alcaraz set up a mid-court ball, but whacked a routine forehand long to face double break point.
Attacking behind a diagonal forehand, Alcaraz was jolted Machac held his ground and banged a backhand pass to break for 6-5.
The Beijing champion narrowly missed a backhand crosscourt as Machac earned triple match point.
Showing no trace of nerves, Machac moved in and blocked a forehand volley winner to snap the Spaniard’s 12-match winning streak with one of his premier performances of the season.