Madrid — Carlos Alcaraz Successfully defended his Madrid Open title with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win over Lucky Luger jan-lenard strouff On Sunday, came close to recovering his world No. 1 ranking.
Spain’s 20-year-old Alcaraz will be back at the top of the rankings going into the French Open if he plays at least one match in the upcoming Italian Open.
He converted his first match point after a hard-fought battle against Struff to claim his fourth title of the year and the 10th of his impressive young career. He also successfully defended his title two weeks ago in Barcelona.
It was Alcaraz’s 29th win of the season and his 21st consecutive loss in Spain. Rafael Nadal On his 18th birthday two years ago in Madrid.
He joined Nadal as the only consecutive Madrid champions in the tournament’s history and is the youngest player to successfully defend a Masters 1000 title since Nadal in Monte Carlo and Rome in 2005–06.
“It’s so special to me,” Alcaraz said. “To lift the trophy here in Madrid. In my country. In front of my home crowd, my family, my friends. Everyone close to me. It’s a special feeling for me that I will never forget.”
Alcaraz’s other titles this year came in Buenos Aires and Indian Wells. He is the first player to win two Masters 1000 trophies in this season.
“It was a really tough match,” Alcaraz said. “Jan was playing brilliantly, really aggressive. In the second set, I had a lot of chances to break his serve and I didn’t take it and it was tough for me to lose. I told myself I have to stay positive.” Time and I will have my chances and I think I did it in the third set.”
The big-serving Strough was the first lucky loser to reach an ATP Masters 1000 final, having earned a spot in the main draw after another player was eliminated.
The 33-year-old German, ranked 65th in the world, was seeking to become just the fourth player and the first in more than 20 years to win his first Tour-level trophy at the Masters 1000.
Struff lost in the final round of qualifying aslan kartsevThe player he eventually defeated in the semi-finals after upsetting the fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas In the quarter finals. The final was her ninth match at the clay-court tournament in Madrid, compared to the sixth for top seed Alcaraz.
Struff beat Alcaraz on clay at the French Open in 2021, while Alcaraz needed five sets to beat Struff at Wimbledon last year.
female couple
Victoria Azarenka And Beatriz Haddad Maia Defeated top seeded Americans to win women’s doubles title Coco Gauff And jessica pegula 6-1, 6-4.
The unseeded pair upset two of the top three seeds in Madrid.
