Carlos Alcaraz set up a mouth-watering 6 Kings Slam semi-final showdown with Rafael Nadal after a straight-sets win over Holger Rune. (More Tennis News)
The winner of this season's French Open and Wimbledon, the Spaniard took just 72 minutes 🧸to wrap up a commanding 6-4 6-2 victory in Riyadh.
The first set was neck and neck until gam🌜e nine, whenꩲ Alcaraz broke before holding to 15 to move halfway towards victory.
The four-time major champion then broke in games three and five to take complete control of the second set, which he eventually wrapped up to book what co🐷uld be one last showdown with the retiring Nadal.
"I tried to ꦺadapt my game a bit to the conditions on the court," he said during his on-court post-match interview.
"At the beginning, I struggled a little bit wꦑith my returns. I had to find the solutions, but once I did, I started to play better and better, and he struggled a little bit more than me."
On the p🎐rospect of f🌌acing Nadal, he added: "Since I started playing tennis, I have watched his matches. He's still my idol. He's been a really important person for my life and my career. He was one of the reasons I wanted to become a professional tennis player.
"Playing against him once again is going to be🎀 tough for m🧸e, but I'm going to try and enjoy it. I'm going to go full power; he's going to be stronger than ever before."
Data Debrief: Solid service from Alcaraz
Alcaraz will be relishing the prospect of going head to head once🧸 more with Nadal, who he partnered in the men's doubles at the Par♚is Olympics.
The world number two set up the clash after a dominant display on serve. Indeed⛄, he won all nine service games, winning 37 of 45 points, and hit six aces while not facing a single break poi𓄧nt.
