Alcaraz cannot find an explanation for his first set against Munar

Carlos Alcaraz had to subscribe to a comeback in the semifinals of ATP Tokyo against a Jaume Munar who started the match very well but faded away due to the good play of the Murcian. Alcaraz was able to turn the situation around and secure his place in a new final, but right after the match he expressed considerable dissatisfaction with how he started the match and how he lost the first set when he had it in his hands.

Still on the court, Alcaraz stated that "I don’t know what happened in the first set. I started the match very well. There were breaks, I was serving to win the set, and I don’t know what happened there. It seems that I am struggling in every first set, but the way I always manage to come back into the match makes me really happy. Today I started the match really well against Jaume, who is a quite difficult player to face. I think these conditions suited his game very well, so I tried to hold on as much as I could until the last 5-4. After that, as I said, I don’t know what happened, but I am very happy because in the second set I tried to stay in there.”

In fact, Munar could only win 4 games between the second and third sets, with Carlos playing much more freely and hitting his forehand more confidently. "I managed to get a couple of breaks that helped me a lot to gain some confidence and I started playing more aggressively. I don’t think I let him enter his style of play; I didn’t allow him, so to speak, to take the match to his ground. I tried to pressure him on every shot, on every ball, on every point, and I think that was the key to today’s match," concluded Alcaraz, who has the ability to change matches at his will to shift the dynamics and emerge victorious as he did today.

Alcaraz listens to Samu López and raises the level of his forehand by almost two points

In fact, the very Samu López encouraged Alcaraz from the bench to hit his forehand more freely, and that’s what he did. The Spanish player found a vein in his favorite shot, and the statistics don’t lie. "Hit it hard, damn it," the Spanish coach told Carlos referring to the forehand, and Carlos raised his level by almost two points. From 7.6 in the first set, to 9.2 in the second, and 9.6 in the third. A large part of the explanation for his comeback lies in that data.

Finding the forehand 🔥 The best players can figure it out as they go along and check out how Carlos's forehand quality improved by reducing speed and improving his consistency on average📈 Set 1 Avg Speed - 82mph Consistency - 82% in😢 Set 2&3 Avg speed - 80mph Consistency - 90% in✅ #TennisInsights | @atptour | @japanopentennis

— Tennis Insights (@tennis_insights) October 5, 2026

The most curious thing about it all is that he didn’t do it based on power, but on intelligence. In the first set, Alcaraz’s forehand had an average speed of 132 km/h, but an effectiveness of 82%. In the second and third sets, the average speed was 129 km/h, and his consistency rose to 90%. A key change that allows him to compete in his first final since his return at the US Open with the intention of achieving a second consecutive title in Tokyo.

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Alcaraz no encuentra explicación a su primer set ante Munar