Carlos Alcaraz defeated Zverev and made it to the quarterfinals in Madrid

Resolute in both the seen and the unseen, Carlos Alcaraz raised the level of his game to win with the authority of the German Alexander Zverev (6-1 and 6-2) and seal his presence in the quarter-finals of the Masters 1000 in Madrid for the second consecutive year. In the replay of the final last year, the result was the same: Alcaraz won. The distance between Spanish and German was also visible. If in 2022 the Murcian won 6-3 and 6-1, this 2023 the difference between the two on the court was also devastating: 6-1 and 6-2.

marked territory Carlos Alcaraz in the match of the round of 16 between the winners of the last two editions. Zverev won the second title he won at the Caja Mágica in 2021. The first was in 2018. The Spaniard is the current champion. The player from El Palmar, number two in the world, assumed an irresistible mood, leaving behind the doubts and difficulties he experienced against Emil Ruusuruori in the first match and which also accelerated from the second, the one that measured him against the Bulgarian Grigor. Dimitrov.

Despite Zverev winning three of the four semi-finals against Rafael Nadal before his injury, including the most recent, the last Roland Garros, he was unable to get revenge for last year’s duel. The magic box, the only one Alcaraz won. Hamburger had no choice. If last year he argued the lack of rest by including in the night part of the semi-finals to justify his poor performance, this time he did not have that trick. He played in the morning slot against the Frenchman Hugo Grenier, whom he breezed through in less than an hour, without too much expense. But again he ran into the best version of Spanish.

If a year ago Zverev could only win four matches, this time he won only three. “This result is not normal. Zverev is a player with big shots and a close result is normal and I was ready for it. I thought it would be balanced and difficult and I was ready,” said Alcaraz. For the first time since coming to Madrid, Zverev stopped before the quarterfinals. In his five appearances so far, he has reached the final in three – he succeeded in two, and in the others he was a quarter-finalist.

This Tuesday, he fell in the round of 16 against the world number two player who has already amassed seventeen consecutive victories on clay in tournaments in Spain which brought him titles in Barcelona in 2022 and 2023 and in Madrid last year. The sixteenth victory in seventeen games on brick dust in this year 2023 was forged in plain sight and unseen. Alcaraz broke his opponent’s serve at first, and soon made it 3-0 himself, which marked the first set. In the second, Zverev held his nerve in the first four sets, but in the fifth, the Spaniard made a break again, winning five games in a row and closing the match in eighty-two minutes.

“I played at a high level. I never let him dominate. I was fine. When you put the leftovers in there and make him play the game, he will decant the other way. That’s why the result is like this. But that’s not normal against Alexander,” said Alcaraz, who showed the difference in winning points (21 to the German’s 12) and in several unforced errors (12 to 22 for Zverev). Alcaraz is aiming for the semifinals. In the quarterfinals, she will meet the Russian Karen Khachanova, who beat compatriot Andrej Rubljev 7-6 (8) and 6-4.