Alcaraz reassures Struff and repeats the crown in Madrid

With a little suffering and a lot more work than expected, Carlos Alcaraz He eventually eased the pressure from Germany’s Jan Lennard Struff to close out his second straight Madrid Masters 1,000 win for 6-4, 3-6 and 6-3in two hours and twenty-five minutes of hard fighting.

He brought on Carlos Alcaraz from the left struff, who made a bad take and kicked the ball out. The Spaniard, like Nadal, dropped to the ground, at the foot of the track, heaved a sigh of relief, happy after the effort. He got up and went to congratulate his rival. And this time he was successful. Prepared point by point against an opponent who did not enter into the calculations and who was himself in the game for the title, for which he fought until the end.

Alcaraz needed epic moments, even tennis and a certain drop from his opponent in the last part of the match, when he saw the second final of his career, also unsuccessful, slip away and the victory of the tournament came back to him.

Alcaraz sometimes resorted to help the stands. Puffy, full, delivered with a guy who won his affection without question, who radiates courage, zest, spectacle. The public responded to the idol’s request whenever it was needed.

This highlight had nothing to do with last year’s. It was his debut as a star at Caja Mágica, when he defeated Germany’s Alexander Zverev in an hour and two sets (6-3 and 6-1) in the title match. That victory, which came after back-to-back victories over Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, was little known. It has nothing to do with this edition.

Alcaraz faced conquest the tenth title in his career and fourth this year after the Masters 1000 in Indian Wells, Barcelona and Buenos Aires, with the authority, with the confidence of a champion, with the routine of a guy who already carries himself confidently in the Caja Mágica, as if he were walking around houses.

And that is that he added twenty-one consecutive victories in the Spanish clay tournaments against Struff, the one in Barcelona and Madrid that he won consecutively in the last two years. In the Magic Box, he achieved his nineteenth victory in 2023 on brick clay, where he recorded only one defeat.

student of Juan Carlos Ferrerowho can already boast of four Masters 1000 trophies – Madrid (2), Miami and Indian Wells -, had the feeling that he was calmly waiting for the duel when Struff’s pulse trembled at the start and he gave up his serve with two double faults.

But the 2-0 with which the Spaniard stopped was a mirage. It has nothing to do with reality. The German reacted, the first playoff player to play in the Masters 1000 final and facing the most important moment in his history in Madrid. On the contrary, he turned the situation around and with a 3-0 run went to 3-2 and took control of the sleeve.

The 33-year-old Warstein player found a way to put the Spaniard on the line. In addition to service and shots from a distance, he also played attack. Serving and networking, which he often resorted to. Alcaraz didn’t find a rhythm, but he kept the guy. In the seventh game, he made a break and consolidated. He held the kit in his hand and closed it.

Far from satisfying his urge, Struff maintained his level, which in the second game was 3-0 which the Murcian failed to neutralize. He used up every break point he had. The German resisted, took the sleeve and led to the third set.

There his Spanish became strong. He did not falter, while the German, who started the competition in 65th place and will start from 28th, the best in his career, gave way. Excessively erratic at key moments, he saw victory slipping away from him and accepted the last games with obvious resignation.

ð — ð —¨ð —˜ð —šð —¢, 𠗦𠗘𠗧, 𠗣𠗔𠗥𠗧𠗜𠗗𠗢

🠆 CARLOS ALCARAZ DECLARED CHAMPION OF THE MUTU MADRID OPEN!

🔥 The Spaniard defeated Struff in three sets and repeated his triumph in the capital.

A HUGE, @carlosalcaraz #MMOPEN #TennisRTVE pic.twitter.com/W2FROGmZRs

– Teledeporte (@teledeporte) May 7, 2023

Alcaraz celebrated, closing out his eleventh consecutive win in this stretch and has the world No. 1 within reach of winning in Rome if he chooses to compete, even if he loses the first leg. The Murcian, who joins Nadal as the only Madrid title holders, is the youngest to defend the Masters 1000 since the Spaniard did it in Monte Carlo and Rome in 2005 and 2006.

Alcaraz tied for the tenth title of his career at the track. Ten trophies and only three lost finals. He highlights Rome and, above all, Roland Garros, his next big goal. After winning the Masters 1000 in Madrid, the Spaniard will appear this Monday still in second place in the world rankings, the same one he is in, but much closer to the number one held by Serbian Novak Djokovic: only five points.

The difference between the 6,775 points of Belgrade and the 6,770 of Alcaraz will be saved by Murcian by going to the first match of the tournament in Rome, where he did not appear last year, but Đoković won, so he cannot increase his points account, in any case decrease it. Just by playing in Rome, even if he loses in the first match, Alcaraz would have 10 more points and catch up with Djokovic.

Alcaraz previously held the world number one spot between September 12, 2022 and January 29, 2023, and again between March 20 and April 2 this year. As of April 3, it settled at number 2, which can now be fixed again.

If he goes to Rome, as announced (the draw will be this Monday), Alcaraz will arrive at Roland Garros as number onethis year’s second Grand Slam, which will be his first since he was not at the Australian Open due to injury.

In the 2022 edition, Alcaraz reached the quarterfinals in Paris, as did Djokovic, in a tournament won by Rafael Nadal.

“Sometimes I say to myself, Charly, make magic and at that moment it comes out of me”

“Today I sometimes enjoyed, sometimes I suffered, but this is what you have to live for. In these circumstances, nerves can sometimes get to you, nerves come to the scene. But I enjoyed more than I suffered, he said after a much more even final than expected between second and 65th in the world.

“You have to be there all the time, Jan is very aggressive, he knew the bombs would come. I’m aggressive, but I also know how to adapt to what’s coming,” he indicated in his first remarks on the track before collecting his trophy, the second in a row in Madrid.

Funny moment @alexcorretja74 with @carlosalcaraz.

“There are shots that are not practiced, that come from within”

🪄 “Sometimes I repeat to myself ‘Charly, make magic’ and here it comes out”#MMOPEN #TennisRTVE pic.twitter.com/LBIPCJPlVV

– Teledeporte (@teledeporte) May 7, 2023

Sometimes I say to myself, Charly, make magic, and at that moment it comes out of me, added the player from Murcia about the moments in which he was behind.

After the victory, overcome with emotion, Alcaraz threw himself on the ground of the Manolo Santana track, and then went to his team’s box to hug the coaches and family. He also congratulated his mother on Mother’s Day in a message he wrote on the camera on the track.