Carlos Alcaraz completed another fairy-tale week in his fledgling career as he overwhelmed reigning champion Alexander Zverev to win the Madrid Open.
The 19-year-old backed up victories over Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic en route to the final with an emphatic 6-3 6-1 success in just one hour and two minutes that cements his status as one of the favourites for this year’s French Open.
It also means Alcaraz is now an impressive 5-0 in ATP finals as he becomes the youngest five-time champion on tour since Nadal won seven titles by the same age in 2004-05.
Speaking during the trophy presentation, Zverev saluted Alcaraz’s 2022 exploits.
RIGHT NOW YOU ARE THE BEST PLAYER IN THE WORLD EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE STILL FIVE YEARS OLD, YOU ARE STILL BEATING US ALL! IT’S GREAT TO SEE FOR TENNIS THAT WE HAVE SUCH A NEW SUPERSTAR WHO IS GOING TO WIN SO MANY GRAND SLAMS AND IS GOING TO BE WORLD NO. 1. I THINK YOU ARE GOING TO WIN THIS TOURNAMENT MANY MORE TIMES.
Reflecting on his sensational run in the Spanish capital, Alcaraz admitted it was a very special moment and revealed that growing up watching five-time champion Nadal at the tournament was an inspiration for him.
“It feels great to be able to beat these kind of players; two of the best players in the history and Zverev at No. 3 in the world,” he told Amazon Prime.
“I would say this is the best week of my life, so I’m going to enjoy this tournament a lot.”
He added: “Watching Rafa lift this trophy so many (times over the) years, gave me the power to work hard for this moment. It is a great moment for me. This is the first tournament I watched when I was a kid so lifting this trophy was so emotional.”
It was Alcaraz who made the early moves with Zverev forced to save the first break point of the match with an ace down the T to level at 2-2 following a trio of unforced forehand errors from the No. 2 seed.
The Spaniard continued to dictate the rallies with his full repertoire of shot-making and he made the breakthrough in devastating style when he dismantled the world No. 3’s serve to break to love and snare a 4-2 lead.
There would be no let-up either as the teenager confidently served out a 31-minute set to love to send the home crowd into raptures.
Zverev came into the final with a 19-2 record in Madrid, including nine straight wins, but he simply had no answer to the power, athleticism and tactical awareness of his opponent.
It was no surprise when Alcaraz broke again for a 2-1 lead early in Set 2 as he conjured up what is now a trademark drop shot to completely outfox the two-time champion and take the game to love.
Zverev was beginning to look lost and he all-but imploded with a couple of double faults and two awful volleys into the net to offer up the double break opportunity. Alcaraz duly seized it with a sumptuous lob and broke again on a fourth match point to claim his seventh top-10 win in a row.
The victory also sees Alcaraz become the first player to beat three top-four players at an ATP Masters 1000 event since David Nalbandian defeated Djokovic, Nadal and Roger Federer in the Spanish capital back in 2007.
Alcaraz was already guaranteed to rise to sixth in the world rankings on Monday but he will also move up to second place in the Pepperstone ATP Race To Turin, just 70 points behind Nadal in top spot.
