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World no. 1 Carlos Alcaraz enjoyed a successful trip to Nice less than a week after claiming his second Major crown at Wimbledon. Carlos led Spain at the Hopman Cup on clay and scored two tight singles wins. However, more was needed to propel Spain into the final, with Rebeka Masarova failing to follow his compatriot's pace.
Thus, Croatia and Switzerland will fight for the trophy on Sunday. Carlos met Borna Coric in his second singles encounter and scored a 6-3, 6-7, 10-5 victory in just over two hours. Borna saved a match point in the second set's tie break before Carlos made a fresh start in the match tie break to emerge at the top.
Both players made a great start in their service games, with the Croat staying in touch with the world's best player. Coric cracked an ace down the T line in the sixth game to level the score at 3-3 before Alcaraz produced a hold at 15 for a 4-3 advantage.
Carlos Alcaraz defeated Borna Coric after over two hours in Nice.
Carlos found his range on the return in the eighth game, landing a backhand down the line return winner and stealing the rival's serve for a 5-3 advantage.
The Spaniard held after deuce in game nine with a service winner to wrap up the opener in style. Borna grabbed the second set's first game after a booming serve and squandered two break chances in the next one. Carlos stayed calm and brought the game home with a drop shot winner to level the score at 1-1.
Alcaraz fired an ace in the fourth game to lock the result at 2-2 and created multiple break chances in the next one. Coric denied three break points and brought the game home with a service winner to remain on the positive side.
The Spaniard landed another unreturned serve in game eight for a hold at love and 4-4 before the Croat clinched the next one after deuce. Carlos served to stay in the set at 5-6 and held after deuce to introduce a tie break.
Coric sprayed a forehand error at 5-5 and offered his rival a match point. Borna saved it and forced Carlos' error at 7-6 to wrap up the breaker and introduce the match tie break. Alcaraz delivered two early mini-breaks for 6-2 before Coric pulled one mini-break back in the ninth point.
The Croat netted a forehand in the 11th point to fall 7-4 behind and hit a double fault at 5-8 to face four match points. Carlos cracked a backhand return winner on the first to emerge at the top and finish his Hopman Cup campaign with two singles victories.