Carlos Alcaraz reaches first Australian Open final after escaping Alexander Zverev in seesaw match

MELBOURNE, Australia — In one of the most extraordinary escapes in tennis history, Carlos Alcaraz overcame sickness and major physical difficulties to defeat Alexander Zverev in five sets and reach his first Australian Open final.

Having led by two sets to love, by the end of the third, Alcaraz was moving so badly that it appeared as though he would have to retire hurt. Struggling with what looked like a combination of an upper-leg injury and cramp, after twice vomiting into a towel at the change of ends, Alcaraz played on as Zverev won the next two sets in tiebreaks.

The world No. 1 was then down a break in the fifth set, with Zverev serving for the match, but he found a way to haul himself back from the precipice before breaking Zverev’s serve again to win in five hours and 27 minutes, two minutes shy of his act of escapology in last year’s French Open final win against Jannik Sinner, when he won from three championship points down.

In the longest Australian Open semifinal in history, Alcaraz dug out a 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 6-7(4), 7-5 win with one of the most impressive mental performances of his career, after coming through serious physical distress.

It began at 4-4 in the third set, when Alcaraz winced after stretching for a volley and a match that had appeared a foregone conclusion spun on its axis. Alcaraz managed to hold for 5-4, then sat down to receive medical attention. The chair umpire announced a medical timeout, at which point Zverev exploded in anger, arguing that Alcaraz was suffering from cramp, and so should not have been able to take one.

“He has cramps. What else should it be? This is absolute bullshit. That is unbelievable. That can not be. You can not be serious. You protect the both of them. It’s unbelievable,” he said in German to the supervisor.

Players are allowed treatment for cramps at three changeovers maximum, but cannot take a medical timeout. It was not clear whether Alcaraz indicated that he had another injury prior to treatment, which would have made the timeout allowable.

When they returned to the court, Alcaraz dragged himself to 0-30 on Zverev’s serve when the German was down 6-5, by hitting winners whenever he could and serving more slowly, but accurately.

Zverev recovered to make it into a third-set tiebreak, which he won comfortably. He still seemed agitated by Alcaraz’s treatment, after two opening sets in which the Spaniard had been far from his best but still good enough to win both of them, the first on the back of efficient serving and the second by finding his touch right when he needed it in a tiebreak.

If he could somehow play pain-free again, then Zverev knew the balance would shift dramatically in his opponent’s favor.

Alcaraz was clinging on, and broke into a broad smile after a spectacular rally early on in the fourth set, as if to say, “not bad for a guy who’s hurt, huh?” He told his team he was feeling a bit better, and after holding for 3-3 with a bit more zip in his legs, he asked the crowd for some noise. They were desperate to get back into the match, after a strange atmosphere developed when no one quite knew what it was that was bothering Alcaraz.

Carlos Alcaraz suffered physically for the middle third of his Australian Open match against Alexander Zverev. (Martin Keep / AFP via Getty Images)

Zverev, who has suffered arguably more than anyone at the hands of Alcaraz and Sinner, was simply trying to keep his composure. He’d raged at his team earlier in the match after double-faulting to give up the only break of the first set and when losing the second having been 5-2 up, but now he was largely silent and unexpressive.

Even when miscuing a return off a slow second serve that would have taken him to two set points, there was no reaction. A couple of points later, the Alcaraz finger went to the ear, as he performed his trademark move after something spectacular. A forehand pass was the moment of genius on this occasion.

Once into another tiebreak, Alcaraz nodded to himself and his team, willing his body to give one last push. But it was Zverev who raised his level, winning five straight points to level the match and send it into a fifth set.

Alcaraz may have been ailing physically, but his five-set record was 14-1, before this latest win, which means he has still not lost a Grand Slam match that has gone the distance since a defeat here to Matteo Berrettini four years ago.

But it was Zverev who broke immediately at the start of the fifth and saved two break points up 2-1 with gutsy serves. Playing passively in pressure moments is a fundamental weakness in Zverev’s game, of which he is aware more than anyone, but he delivered aggressiveness here. Even while playing a compromised opponent, he did extremely well to cope with all the conflicting thoughts that must have been swirling through his head.

Still, back came Alcaraz, somehow finding the energy to chase down a drop volley and flick away a passing shot with Zverev serving at 3-2. It made the score 30-30, before an otherworldly forehand return winner had Alcaraz at break back point at 30-40.

Zverev got a bit lucky when an Alcaraz hit the tape and flew long, but he did extremely well to blast a forehand up the line to win the next point and cause his opponent to collapse to the floor. Zverev held for 4-2 and was a couple of games away, closer than he ever was when up two sets to one in their French Open final two years ago.

And for all the questions about Zverev’s ability to play aggressively when it really matters, a bullet of a forehand up the line — after he had saved two more break points — was the most resounding answer he had ever provided, at least until his next service game.

Alcaraz, who could not convert five break points in the deciding set, would have paid for his profligacy on another day. Instead, with Zverev serving for the match, he cracked a forehand winner crosscourt to earn two more. And after so many eager misses, Alcaraz played patiently when it mattered, earning the right to detonate a forehand up the line that saw the German float a backhand long.

Alcaraz raised his arms to the skies and as the crowd erupted, the long flight of Zverev’s shot giving them an extra second to raise their voices to a crescendo.

Alexander Zverev raised his level in tight moments, something he has found difficult during his career — until it really mattered. (Martin Keep / AFP via Getty Images)

The arms were up again when Alcaraz held for 6-5, and as he walked back onto the court to receive. Zverev looked drained, desperately trying to stop an opponent who now felt like a runaway train.

A few points later it was all over, as a running forehand — the shot that won Alcaraz the French Open epic against Sinner last year — saw him fall to the ground in scarcely believable triumph.