All of that turned upside-down in the third set, with Alcaraz leaping ahead with an early break of Sinner’s serve and some incredible shows of strength from both players. (The one shame of an epic showdown like this is that, because both players are executing at such a high level, the truly unbelievable speed and pace at which they hit the ball—both players ripped forehands at more than 100mph many times during the match—often gets lost in the shuffle, particularly with the overhead angle from the baseline shown on most broadcasts.) But a solid, steady performance from Alcaraz allowed him to seize the set, 6-4, delighting the crowd—which included Pharrell Williams, Natalie Portman, Lily Collins, Spike Lee, Omar Sy, and Dustin Hoffman, among other notables. It was the first set Sinner lost in the entire tournament. Forget that third gear: This was pedal-to-the-metal, lights-out tennis.
Yet again the statistics put both players between a rock and a hard place: Sinner had never won a match that had gone on this long, ever—and Alcaraz had never come back from being two sets down. So what happened? Another war of attrition in the fourth, until the seventh game of that set—when Sinner, with impeccable touch and poise, broke Alcaraz’s serve at love, setting him up to serve out the match.
Here’s where things got weird: After being up 40-0—forty-love!!!—at 5-3 as Alcaraz served what should have been the final game of the match, Sinner tanked five points in a row to hand Alcaraz the game and send the crowd into an absolute frenzy. (In hindsight, one can see that from this moment on, with few exceptions, the match became Alcaraz’s to lose, though of course one doesn’t watch live sports in hindsight.) Alcaraz then broke Sinner’s serve, evening things up at 5-5 in the fourth, with the stadium erupting into “CAR-LOS” chants. Having won 10 of the last 11 points, Alcaraz held serve to go up 6-5, with the match now approaching four hours in length, and Sinner held serve in the next game, forcing a tiebreak, which Alcaraz dominated, 7-3.
