Tennis
The Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz successfully defended his title from last year at the Masters 1000 tournament in Madrid on Sunday. The top seeded local hero defeated the German Jan-Lennard Struff after a fight in 2:26 hours 6:4 3:6 6:3 and thus worked his way up to five points in the world rankings behind the Serbian leader Novak Djokovic. It is Alcaraz’ fourth title overall on the ATP tour this year after Buenos Aires, Indian Wells and Barcelona.
While Alcaraz once again positioned itself as the favorite for the French Open, which begins in three weeks, Struff was also convincing. He had already been eliminated in qualifying, was given a second chance as a “lucky loser” and fought his way through to the final.
There he even put Alcaraz under pressure and only collected three points less than the 20-year-old. No one had ever managed to reach a Masters 1000 final as a “lucky loser”. At the end of 2022, Struff was 150th in the world rankings, now the 33-year-old has improved to 28th place.
Alcaraz is now the winner of a total of four Masters 1000 tournaments. “I tried to stay positive after losing the second set and to keep the tension up,” said the young star. “It was an incredible journey here for me,” said Struff. “Losing in qualifiers coming into the tournament as a lucky loser. It was fantastic to get a second chance.”
ATP 1000 tournament in Madrid
(Spain, 8,796,536 euros, clay)