MELBOURNE, Australia — Carlos Alcaraz overcame injury to fend off Alexander Zverev in an epic, momentum-swinging five-setter Friday, becoming the youngest man in the Open era to reach the finals of all four Grand Slam events.
At 22, he's aiming to be the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam.
He reached his first Australian Open final the hard way, winning 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-7 (4), 7-5 in 5 hours, 27 minutes. It was the longest match of the tournament so far, and the longest semifinal ever at the Australian Open — surpassing the 2009 classic between Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco.
That's despite him being two points away in the third set from a semifinal victory in a tournament where he hadn’t dropped a set through five rounds.
After a medical timeout for treatment on his upper right leg and massages on the same area at two changeovers, Alcaraz's footwork wasn't up to his usual elite standard.
He made it through the third and fourth sets and was behind in the fifth after dropping serve in the first game. But he kept up the pressure and didn’t break back until Zverev was serving for the match in the 10th. He won the last four games.
The top-ranked Alcaraz will next face either two-time defending champion Jannik Sinner or 10-time Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic, who is bidding for an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam singles crown. The marathon afternoon match delayed the start of the night semifinal.
Belief
Asked how he was able to recover despite being so close to defeat, Alcaraz just said he kept “believing, believing, all the time.”
“I was struggling in the middle of the third set. You know, physically it was one of the most demanding matches that I have ever played," he said. "But I’ve been in these situations, I’ve been in these kind of matches before, so I knew what I had to do.
“I had to put my heart into the match. I think I did it. I fought until the last ball. Extremely proud (of) myself.”
Alcaraz had only lost one of his previous 15 matches that went to five sets. Zverev had a good record in that department, too, at 23-14. But this was the longest match of his career, and he said he ran out of steam.
When he led by two sets, Alcaraz appeared to be in the kind of form that won him the U.S. Open last year and has helped him evenly split the last eight majors with Sinner.
The drama
In the ninth game of the third, Alcaraz started limping and having problems with his upper right leg. After holding for 5-4, he took a medical timeout in the changeover. It may have been cramp, but he rubbed the inside of his thigh and called for the trainer.
Zverev was demonstrably upset, taking it up with a tournament supervisor, when his rival was given the three-minute break for treatment.
“He was cramping, so normally you can’t take a medical timeout for cramping,” Zverev said. “What can I do? I didn’t like it, but it’s not my decision.
"But, to be honest, I don’t want to talk about this right now, because I think this is one of the best battles there ever was in Australia. It doesn’t deserve to be the topic now."
No. 3 Zverev, the 2025 runner-up, retained his composure despite Alcaraz’s obvious discomfort and the crowd on Rod Laver Arena being firmly behind the Spaniard.
He won the last four points of the third set and then the tiebreaker, and was in front for the entire fourth set. More than four hours had elapsed when the match went to a fifth set — the first five-setter on the center court in 2026.
Alcaraz dropped serve in the opening game but hung with Zverev, getting five breakpoint chances without being able to convert.
In the sixth game Alcaraz sprinted across court to track down a drop shot and slid at full pace for an angled forehand winner. The crowd went crazy, and Alcaraz was back.
The finish
Alcaraz finally converted a break when Zverev was serving for the match at 5-4.
After holding serve and piling all the pressure back on his rival, Alcaraz clinched it on his first match point when Zverev netted. He let his racket slip and flopped on the court, lying on his back. By the time he got up, Zverev had come around the net for a congratulatory hug.
“I’m just really happy to have the chance to play my first final here in Melbourne," Alcaraz said. “It is something that I was pursuing a lot, chasing a lot, having the chance to fight for the title.”
___
AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis