Though Carlos Alcaraz marched his way into the Japan Open’s semifinals, his performance was anything but convincing. His opponent, Denis Shapovalov, retired mid-match while trailing 7-6, 2-1 after he pulled his hip while reaching out for a forehand. Though Alcaraz was happy with the win, he wasn’t satisfied with his performance at all.

“It was a little bit frustrating with my serve,” he said in the post-match interview. “I couldn’t find a good way of serving: I was struggling almost every game on serve. But I’m just happy with the way I came back after every break. It was a great first set: Great points, great rallies.”

Alcaraz lost his serve on three occasions in the first set. While he did gain the same number of breaks, he was barely able to keep up with Shapovalov at one stage. The Canadian had a 5-3 lead, but ended up squandering it. He even had set point at 5-4, 30, 40, but Alcaraz saved it and eventually dragged the set to a tiebreaker.

The Spaniard found his rhythm back in the breaker and clinched it 7-3 to take the lead in the match. Shapovalov sustained the injury in the first game of the second set. He had to take an off-court medical timeout after the game and soon returned to the court. But he called it quits after three games, handing Alcaraz a place in the semifinals.

This was Alcaraz’s eighth consecutive victory at the Japan Open. He had lifted the title last year and is among the top contenders this time as well. He will face his compatriot, Jaume Munar, in the semifinals. The latter has had quite an impressive run in the tournament so far and racked up a remarkable 6-7, 6-4, 6-3 win against Taylor Fritz in the Round of 32.

Alcaraz has previously clashed with Munar on four occasions and has a 3-1 lead in the H2H record. Their previous meeting came in the Round of 16 at the Queen’s Club, and Alcaraz triumphed 6-4, 6-7, 7-5. However, the 23-year-old hasn’t looked at his best in the Japan Open so far. He scraped past Alex Michelsen 7-6, 4-6, 6-1 in the first round before defeating Matteo Arnaldi 7-6, 6-1.

The victory over Shapovalov wasn’t that impressive either, as the match never really got completed. Alcaraz himself didn’t want to win like this and hoped for Shapovalov’s speedy recovery so that he could return to action at the Shanghai Masters.

Carlos Alcaraz wishes Denis Shapovalov to make a quick recovery

“It’s a shame that he had to pull out. Going through to a semi-final like this is not the way I wanted, but sometimes sports are tough. You have to accept it. Hopefully he’s going to be able to play in Shanghai healthy,” he further said in the on-court interview.

The Spaniard later made a social media post about the same as well and thanked his fans for their constant support.

“Wishing you a quick recovery, @denis.shapovalov. Thanks everyone for the support, see you tomorrow in the semis!” he wrote in an Instagram post.

Alcaraz’s form hasn’t dwindled despite his four-month injury layoff, and he has racked up some sensational results already. He has played nine matches since his return, winning eight of them. His only loss came in the quarterfinals of the US Open against Ben Shelton.

Alcaraz’s most impressive victory arguably came at the Laver Cup, where he played out a classic against Taylor Fritz. He even had to save a match point at one stage and gave Team Europe a valuable victory by defeating the American 6-3, 4-6, 13-11. It now remains to be seen whether he will go all the way and lift the Japan Open title for the second year running.