A Masters 1000 final should be a momentous occasion–maybe even too big–for a 19-year-old.
But when you have already captured one such title and are coming off back-to-back wins over Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, nothing is too big–maybe not even a Grand Slam final.
Carlos Alcaraz made Sunday’s Mutua Madrid Open championship match feel like a walk in the park, as he erased Alexander Zverev 6-3, 6-1 in a mere one hour in two minutes. The Spaniard then confirmed that his sights are set on Roland Garros by immediately withdrawing from this coming week’s Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome.
Alcaraz’s second 1000-point title (he previously triumphed in Miami) will propel him to No. 6 in the rankings and to No. 2 in the race to Turin (only 70 points behind Nadal). He is 28-3 this season with additional titles in Rio de Janeiro and Barcelona–both at the ATP 500 level.
Zverev never had any chance of preventing Alcaraz’s fourth title of the year and fifth overall. The two-time Madrid champion (including last spring) finished his semifinal match against Stefanos Tsitsipas after 1:00 am and did not have much left in the tank. He admitted, though, that he would have had little chance to win even at 100 percent.
“He’s playing amazing,” Zverev assured. “There’s absolutely no doubt about it. He’s playing amazing.”
Alcaraz certainly played well enough on Sunday to avoid going to a third set, which was required against both Nadal in the quarterfinals and Djokovic in the semis. The seventh seed served at 71 percent, lost only six service points in the entire match, and broke Zverev four times.
“It means a lot to me to get this title, (a) Masters 1000 here in Madrid on clay,” Alcaraz said. “So it [gives] me a lot of confidence right now to go to Roland Garros with all the power to go for a title in in Paris.”
At this rate, there is no reason to doubt him.
nice one, Charles