Carlos Alcaraz dropped 16 points in succession at one point on Monday, but he still found a way to victory against Jaume Munar.
Chris OddoOctober 5, 20262 minute read
When was the last time you saw Carlos Alcaraz lose 16 consecutive points? It happened on Monday in Tokyo, the Spaniard losing the plot from 5-3, deuce until the first two points of the second set.
As the points – and games – fluttered away and Jaume Munar found himself with a 7-5, 30-0 lead in the first game of set two, one couldn’t help but wonder if something was wrong with Alcaraz.
Four points later, we had our answer.
Nope. Nothing serious, at least.
Alcaraz broke Munar’s serve, and the fight was on. Things were complicated, to say the least, but the seven-time major champion found his way to the finish line, winning 11 of the final 14 games to complete his ninth consecutive victory at the Japan Open.
Alcaraz, last year’s champion in Tokyo, finished a 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 winner in two and a half hours and will face Jiri Lehecka in Tuesday’s final.
“I don’t know what happened in the first set,” Alcaraz said after the victory. “I started the match well. I was up a break and serving for the set.
“It seems that I’m struggling in every first set,” Alcaraz said of a first set that ended with two consecutive double faults. “But I’ve come back every time and I’m really happy about it.”
Credit Munar, who took out Taylor Fritz in the first round, for playing his part in the dramatic contest. Unfortunately for the 29-year-old, his feisty effort couldn’t get him into his second career ATP final.
The World No. 64 drops to 1-7 in ATP semifinals and 1-4 against Alcaraz – he defeated the seven-time major champion in their first career meeting on clay in Marbella, Spain, in 2021.
“I started to play more aggressive,” Alcaraz said. “I didn’t let him get into his style.”
After an exchange of breaks to open the second set, Alcaraz moved ahead for good with a break for 2-1, thanks to a delicately appointed forehand drop-shot winner. He was off to the races from there, reaching his 36th career final and fourth of 2026.
Alcaraz, who defeated Taylor Fritz in last year’s final in Tokyo, has won three of his four meetings with Lehecka, who moved into the final with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Valentin Vacherot. The 24-year-old Czech is the first man from his country to play the Tokyo final since his Davis Cup captain Tomas Berdych in 2008.
“It’s one of the top challenges in our sport right now: To play a guy like him,” Lehecka said.
