Melbourne ¨C An ailing Carlos Alcaraz said ¡°believing¡± helped him pull through one of the most demanding matches of his career to down Alexander Zverev in five epic sets and reach his first Australian Open final Friday.
The world No. 1 outlasted the German third seed 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-7 (4), 7-5 over a titanic 5 hours, 27 minutes in hot conditions and will play either Jannik Sinner or Novak Djokovic in Sunday¡¯s title match in Melbourne.
The Spaniard only narrowly avoided crashing out after a huge fright at 4-4 in the third set when he pulled up in pain with what appeared to be a cramp.
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