Nicolas Jarry surprises Carlos Alcaraz in Buenos Aires semifinals for biggest win of career

A red-hot Nicolas Jarry pulled off the biggest win of his career on Saturday night, taking out No. 2-ranked Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals of the clay-court event in Buenos Aires, 7-6 (2), 6-3.

The big-hitting Chilean’s previous-best win came against a No. 3-ranked Alexander Zverev in Barcelona five years ago.

It was also his first win in three attempts against Alcaraz.

“Third time lucky one,” he said in his on-court interview after the match. “Carlos is one of the best players, so this means a lot to me.”

Jarry is now 5-8 in his career against Top 5 players, but he’s won four of his last seven matches against the elite, a stretch that dates back nine months to the tail end of last year’s clay-court season.

NICOLAS JARRY VS TOP 5 PLAYERS (5-8):
d. No. 3 Zverev in 2019 Barcelona 2nd Rd
l. to No. 5 Zverev in 2019 Geneva F
l. to No. 5 Zverev in 2019 Hamburg 1st Rd
l. to No. 2 Ruud in 2022 Seoul 2nd Rd
l. to No. 2 Alcaraz in 2023 Rio de Janeiro SFs
l. to No. 3 Tsitsipas in 2023 Monte Carlo 3rd Rd
d. No. 4 Ruud in 2023 Geneva QFs
l. to No. 4 Ruud in 2023 Roland Garros 4th Rd
d. No. 5 Tsitsipas in 2023 Halle 2nd Rd
l. to No. 1 Alcaraz in 2023 Wimbledon 3rd Rd
l. to No. 5 Tsitsipas in 2023 Los Cabos QFs
d. No. 5 Tsitsipas in 2023 Beijing 1st Rd
d. No. 2 Alcaraz in 2023 Buenos Aires SFs

Alcaraz had won both of the pair’s previous meetings, both last year, on clay in the semifinals of Rio de Janeiro (6-7 (2), 7-5, 6-0) and on grass in the third round of Wimbledon (6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-3, 7-5).

And he came out strong this time, too, holding his first four service games to love—but Jarry stayed with him throughout the first set, then stormed through the tie-break. Then, after Alcaraz broke in the first game of the second set, Jarry broke right back, and ultimately grabbed another break for 5-3 in the second set before serving it out.

“After the battles that I’ve had a couple days ago, this was very tough physically,” said Jarry, whose week has also included battling to the 100th tour-level win of his career against Stan Wawrinka.

“I’m so extremely happy to be able to come back. I didn’t start very well today. I couldn’t win a couple of points with his serve. But I was able to come back little by little, so I’m happy for that.”

Awaiting the No. 3-seeded Jarry in Sunday’s final will be Argentinian wild card Facundo Diaz Acosta, who beat countryman Federico Coria in the first semifinal of the day, 6-2, 6-3. It’ll be Jarry and Diaz Acosta's first tour-level meeting—the Chilean has won all three of their meetings below tour-level, but all of them went to three sets.