MADRID (AP) —Carlos Alcaraz ended another impressive week with a straight victory over Alexander Zverev on Sunday, winning the Madrid Open and becoming the second youngest player to win two Masters 1000 titles.
After defeating their idol Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals and first-placed Novak Djokovic in the semifinals, the Spanish teen sensation comfortably defeated third-placed Zverev 6-3, 6-1.
Zverev was trying to win his second consecutive Madrid title, and his third overall.
“You are currently the best player in the world,” Zverev told 19-year-old Alcaraz. “Even though you’re still 5 years old, you’re still beating us all, it’s so nice to see tennis that we have such a new superstar who will win many Grand Slams, who will be number 1 and is going to win this tournament many times.”
Alcaraz became the youngest winner in Madrid and the second youngest to win two Masters 1000 trophies after Nadal won in Monte Carlo and Rome in 2005. Alcaraz has already become the youngest to enter the top 10 since Nadal did so in 2005.
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For Alcaraz, it was the seventh consecutive victory over a player from the top 10, and the fourth title on tour this year. He also has the most wins this season with 28, one more than Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Alcaraz won his first Masters 1000 tournament in Miami earlier this year. He also won in Rio de Janeiro and Barcelona. He won his first career title in Umag last year.
Alcaraz’s three defeats this season came against Sebastian Korda in Monte Carlo, Nadal in Indian Wells and Matteo Berrettini at the Australian Open.
After long victories in three sets over Nadal and Đoković, Alcaraz kept high energy from the beginning against Zverevo and controlled the whole match on the central field of “Caja Mágice”.
He did not face any breaks, and he turned four of the eight he had against the second seed Zverev. Alcaraz had 11 unforced errors compared to 25 Beasts.
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