MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Stadium Court is typically the stage for marquee players at the Miami Open, but the most electric crowds so far this week were at the 5,000-seat Grandstand, where two of the sport’s rising stars — Carlos “Carlitos” Alcaraz and Francisco Cerundolo — played their fourth-round matches.
The fact that they are both Spanish-speaking players, Alcaraz from Spain and Cerundolo from Argentina, made them instant favorites among the huge Hispanic tennis audience that shows up at this tournament every year.
Hundreds of fans who couldn’t fit in the stands settled for hovering near the stadium Tuesday night to capture the energy coming from Alcaraz’s 7-5, 6-3 win over No. 3 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece in a rematch of their five-set epic match at the U.S. Open.
Alcaraz, the 18-year-old Spaniard who has already drawn comparisons to a young Rafael Nadal, has been living up to expectations. He jumped from No. 55 in the world to No. 16 this year and improved to 15-2 on the season with the win. He is one victory from back-to-back Masters 1000 semifinals after reaching that stage for the first time in Indian Wells, Calif.
“Vamos Carlos!” and “Vamos Carlitos!” the fans chanted, over and over.
The teen has won five of his past eight matches against top-10 players. Nadal was also 18 when he had five wins over top-10 players.
After the match, Alcaraz told reporters he has never experienced such a loving crowd outside his home country.
“It was truly incredible to have so many people motivating me, hearing `Vamos Carlos!’ after every point,” he said. “It looked like I was playing in Spain, and I felt like I was in Spain and that is hard to find in another continent.”
Tennis Channel commentator Andy Roddick, the former American world No. 1, joined the list of experts predicting big things for Alcaraz.
“People normally have to grow into their movement a little bit and he doesn’t need much time to fire the forehand,” Roddick said. “Most of the guys with huge forehands need two feet under them to give it a ride. This guy can turn on it real quick, almost like Andre Agassi used to. You would hit a big ball to him and it would come back just as fast.
“This guy is no joke. He’s the real deal and I don’t know that this [win over Tsitsipas] is an upset. I don’t know that we’ve seen someone this young, who you kind of expect to win matches like this often. This guy is an animal.”
Cerundolo, a 23-year-old who is unseeded and was ranked No. 103 coming into the tournament, is also having a breakthrough month.
Playing in his first Masters level hard-court tournament, he knocked off No. 22 seed Gael Monfils 6-2, 6-3 in the third round and rallied to beat No. 28 American Frances Tiafoe 6-7 (7-2), 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 in the fourth round in front of a boisterous Grandstand crowd on Tuesday afternoon.
Cerundolo, like Alcaraz, said the loving Spanish-speaking crowd inspired him throughout the tense match.
“It’s like playing in Argentina,” Cerundolo said after “Yesterday, I played an American guy, and I think more people were cheering for me than for him. So, it was really weird. I love to play with my Argentine people, Latin people, it’s fantastic. It brings my best inside the court. Nowhere else I the world, expect Argentina, am I feeling this at home.”
On Wednesday, he reached his first Masters 1000 semifinal when his quarterfinal opponent, Jannik Sinner, retired due to a blister on his right foot trailing 4-1.
With Wednesday’s win, he moved up to No. 50 and could get to No. 38 if he reaches the final.
He is the lowest-ranked Miami Open semifinalist in tournament history. The previous lowest was No. 74 Sebastian Grosjean in 1999. Cerundolo entered the tournament with an 0-2 hard-court record in tour-level matches.
Cerundolo’s brother, Juan Manuel, was also in the tournament, but lost to Tiafoe in the third round.
On the women’s side, Boca Raton resident Jessica Pegula became the only American left in either draw when she advanced to the semifinals after her quarterfinal opponent, No. 5 seed Paula Badosa, retired due to a viral illness.
“Of course, it’s not nice to win that way,” Pegula said in her on-court interview. “It’s the first time I’ve ever even hit with her at all, so I was really looking forward to playing. She’s been having an amazing year and she’s an incredible competitor; I think we all saw that last round where she clearly wasn’t feeling well, and she was able to tough it out. I admire that a lot about there and hopefully next time we can both play when we’re healthy and feeling good and have a great match.”
Pegula feels at home inside a football stadium, which is where the Miami’s Open Stadium court is located, because her parents, Terry and Kim Pegula, own the Buffalo Bills. The part of the Hard Rock Stadium field that is not covered with the tennis stadium is being used by tennis players for warmups and for kicking soccer balls around.
“It’s weird because I’ve been here in suites for the (football) games and have been on the field,” she said last week. “It’s funny being on the field (for tennis), feels so different when it’s not a game, it feels smaller.”
Although her parents own the Bills, she said she is not a lifelong Bills fan because the family moved around. She is a diehard Sabres fan, she said.
Pegula will face the winner of the night match between No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek and No. 28 seed Petra Kvitova.
