Carlos Alcaraz battled back to beat Casper Ruud 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Monday in Tokyo and reach his 10th final of a spectacular season, emulating fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal. The world number one and US Open champion Alcaraz will face his Laver Cup conqueror Taylor Fritz in Tuesday’s decider of the Japan Open. No man since the legendary Rafael Nadal in 2017 has reached 10 finals in a season.”Following his steps in making 10 finals in a season is something great,” said Alcaraz, who also set a new personal best of 66 wins in a season.

“Hopefully it’s not going to end here — a few tournaments ahead, hopefully (I’ll) get to the finals there as well.”

Alcaraz has wowed the crowds this week but he was in danger of being outshone by Norway’s world number 12 Ruud, who pulled off a series of spectacular winners to take the first set.

Alcaraz, who suffered an ankle injury on Thursday in his opener, regained control in the second set before closing out the match with another ferocious display of power-hitting.