Confused Carlos Alcaraz admits what he’s been struggling with all week in Tokyo despite reaching the final

Carlos Alcaraz managed to keep his Japan Open title defence alive today, as he fought from a set down to beat Jaume Munar to reach a second successive final.

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As we have been saying all week, it was far from a straightforward win for the 23-year-old, who, despite taking an early break in the first set, endured an unprecedented barren run where he won just 17 of 20 points and surrendered the lead.

Breaking to start the second set put him back on track, and he never really looked back from there, even if his opponent provided ample competition despite his much lower ranking.

Carlos Alcaraz spoke to Sky Sports immediately after his win, and admitted he had no idea what happened in that first set.

However, from that point onwards, his fresh game plan helped slowly turn things around.

Carlos Alcaraz confused by his first-set struggles in Tokyo

His interview was brief, but ran through the story of the match, from his first-set lead to his inexplicable collapse, and his eventual comeback.

Alcaraz admitted: “I don’t know what happened in the first set.

“The first set in general, to be honest. I started the match well, broke serve, was serving for the set, and then I don’t know what happened. It seems like I am struggling every first set, but the way I come back every time, I am really happy about it.

“Today I started the match really well, against someone who is a tough player to play against, and these conditions suit him well. I am just happy that in the second set I tried to stay there and play a few games at the beginning. I made a couple of breaks, which helped me a lot to get a bit of confidence and I started to play more aggressive. I did not let him go to his style. I did not let him drive the match in his area, I tried to push him in every ball and point. I think that was the key to the match today.”

He will play his final tomorrow, before heading straight to China, with Alcaraz’s Shanghai Masters draw having already been revealed.

Carlos Alcaraz’s incredible 2026 season despite five-month injury

It’s astounding all Alcaraz has accomplished this year despite the sheer number of matches he has missed.

After all, the seven-time Grand Slam champion suffered his injury in April and only returned at the start of September, shocking many as he opted to head straight back into best-of-five-set tennis.

Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

He handled that admirably, and a quarter-final exit to eventual finalist Ben Shelton represented a fine run.

Now, having reached the final of this Japan Open, Alcaraz has somehow managed to make it to four quarter-finals this year, and has a golden opportunity to win a third title to add to the Australian Open and Doha trophies.

Not even injury can keep this incredible champion down for too long.

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