BARCELONA, Spain (Reuters) – World number two Carlos Alcaraz reached the final of the Barcelona Open after beating Briton Daniel Evans 6-2 6-2 on Saturday to set up a showdown with fellow top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas who defeated Italian Lorenzo Musetti 6-4 5-7 6-3.
Alcaraz, who had an injury-plagued start to the season and was beaten in the semi-final of last week’s Miami Open by Jannik Sinner, was unstoppable against Evans, even as he appeared to be conserving his energy for the claycourt season.
The 19-year-old Alcaraz broke early in the first set and closed it 6-2 in 38 minutes. He raced to 4-1 in the second and beat Evans in 80 minutes to reach the final in Barcelona for the second consecutive year.
World number five Tsitsipas had a more complicated challenge against Musetti, surrendering a break in the third game. However, he managed to fight back and clinch the first set 6-4 after winning three consecutive games.
The Greek player quickly moved to 5-3 and had the opportunity to serve for the match, but collapsed under pressure, allowing Musetti to fight back and win the second set 7-5.
Musetti came close to a break point in the first game of the decisive set, but Tsitsipas kept his composure and went on to comfortably close out the match.
Tsitsipas will try to claim his first ever win against Alcaraz, who in December became the youngest year-end No. 1 in the history of the ATP. Alcaraz defeated Tsitsipas in the 2021 US Open and in last year’s Miami Masters and Barcelona Open.
(Reporting by Fernando Kallás in Madrid; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
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