“History in the making”: Carlos Alcaraz congratulates the Spain women’s national football team on their entry into the semi-finals
Reigning World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz congratulated his home team 'La Roja' as they entered the semi-finals of the FIFA Women's World Cup in Wellington on Friday (August 11).
The sixth-ranked Spain women’s national football team advanced to the last four of the tournament after beating the Netherlands 2-1 during extra time at the Westpac Stadium in New Zealand. This is the first time that La Roja has progressed to this stage of the tournament, where they will now face Sweden on August 15.
It was 19-year-old Salma Paralluelo who came off the bench to produce a brilliant left-foot shot into the back of the net in the 111th minute. This was after the 90-minute game had ended 1-1 in Wellington. The match turned out to be quite controversial, as the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) was called into action three times in the match.
After a ton of drama and controversy during the match, a chance to get into the final and play for the title is being celebrated widely. With Spain being a football country, it is no surprise to see athletes from other sports jubilant with this development.
In his Instagram story, Carlos Alcaraz congratulated La Roja on their success over the Netherlands and for advancing into the semi-finals of the World Cup for the first time.
"History in the making! Congratulations!" Carlos Alcaraz wrote.
Carlos Alcaraz to face Tommy Paul in the quarterfinal at the Rogers Cup
Alcaraz had a close call against Polish Hubert Hurkacz in the Rogers Cup, going down 2-5 in the third and deciding set before making an emphatic comeback to proceed to the next round. However, he will face another tricky opponent in the next round, someone who had beaten him at the same tournament, albeit in Montreal, just a year back, Tommy Paul.
It was a closely-contested match with Paul eventually winning 6-7 (4), 7-6 (7), 6-3. While Carlos Alcaraz still went on to win the US Open, his first Major, last year, it is safe to say that the Spaniard is a far better player now than he was 12 months back.
Moreover, Alcaraz has already beaten the American to exact his revenge, when the two met earlier this year at the Miami Masters. The Spaniard made fairly easy work of Paul beating him 6-4, 6-4.
Nonetheless, his victory over Carlos Alcaraz at the tournament will give Tommy Paul just that bit of confidence going into the match.