A day after record rainfall in Miami, the city was beset by another force of nature. It was the misfortune of Taylor Fritz to be standing in its path.
If Fritz, the big-serving American world No 10, was under any illusions about the scale of the challenge as he met the human whirlwind that is Carlos Alcaraz for the first time, they were dispelled after the first two minutes of their Miami Open quarter-final. That was all the time Alcaraz needed to snatch an early break by pouncing on a short second serve to slot away a precise backhand return winner.
Fritz, one of the most accomplished servers in men’s tennis, is unaccustomed to such indignities. Like Alcaraz, the big Californian had previously failed to hold just twice at the tournament. Even so, another reality check was not slow in coming.
In his next service game, Fritz toiled for eight sinew-stretching minutes to secure a first hold. It was a miniature masterpiece, full of superb shot-making from both men, with no quarter given and the baseline exchanges played at a ferocious pace. As Alcaraz showcased the full range of his repertoire, Fritz was bullied, battered and finessed into all corners of the court until, finally, after surviving five deuces, he conjured a magical topspin lob – his second of the game – to get on the scoreboard.
A high bar had been established and, for the remainder of the set, Fritz was forced to play at the top of his game merely to stay in touch. It made for a compelling spectacle and, although Alcaraz pressed home his advantage to seal the opener, Fritz had every reason to feel positive going into the second. Instead, history repeated itself, some monstrous ball-striking from Alcaraz ensuring the American paid the price for an early double-fault. Broken to love, Fritz would never again be in serious contention.
“He came out really hot,” said Fritz following his 6-4, 6-2 defeat. “I got the hold, but I was like, ‘Wow, if this is the level, then this is going to be really tough.’
“But I felt like that wasn’t actually the level. He did come out extremely hot and played that game really good, but I felt like I settled in after that.
“For the rest of the set, I was in some service games, and I was holding pretty comfortably. But there were a lot of shots that I hit to him that I was expecting to be safe on, that I got punished on.
“For how young he is, he just has all the tools. He can come to net, he can drop shot you, he can lob you, he’s incredibly fast, he has all the power, his forehand is good, his backhand is good. It’s very rare to see someone so young so developed in their game, and not really have anything that they need to work on so much.
“He has tons of different ways to play, and he can incorporate tons of different game plans to play different players, because he has so many tools to win a match.”
The Spaniard, the champion in Indian Wells earlier this month and now two wins away from defending the Miami Open title he won against Casper Ruud last year, has yet to drop a set over the sunshine stretch, a level of dominance eclipsed only by six-time champion Novak Djokovic. If he is to hold on to the No 1 ranking he reclaimed from Djokovic with his win in Indian Wells, Alcaraz must retain the title. To judge by Fritz’s appraisal of the Spaniard’s talents, which he suggested are more difficult to contain than even those of Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, there is every possibility he will do so – a semi-final meeting with Jannik Sinner notwithstanding.
“The level of the first three games was absolutely unbearable,” said Fritz. “He was hitting clean winners off of 110-mile-an-hour second serves [that] I was hitting into his body. I’m stepping up and crushing backhands cross, and he’s going open-stance backhand line winners off of that.
“That wasn’t the level for the rest of the match. I was able to settle in much more, and he wasn’t doing that the whole match. But he obviously possesses that level, and for those first couple of games, it was pretty overwhelming.
“I definitely felt like I had more breathing room against [Djokovic, Federer and Nadal] than in this match. I think that it’s different game styles. Novak will have these long rallies, but he’ll kind of slowly get you out of position and overwhelm me. I still feel like I can hang in these rallies for a long time and get more chances to attack.
“I’d go back to the first couple games of the match. He just [hit] winners and shots that hurt me off of a lot of shots that people normally aren’t hurting me off.
“Definitely less [breathing space than against Djokovic, Federer and Nadal]. I just felt he was more offensive and pressed me a lot more.”
Alcaraz hardly wants for inspiration but, if additional impetus were required, it is hard to imagine a more flattering comparison.