Carlos Alcaraz has a 10-game winning streak.© AFP
Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz raced to the Madrid Open title on Sunday, beating German Alexander Zverev 6-3, 6-1 in 62 minutes. The win in just over an hour brought the 19-year winning streak to 10 games. Alcaraz defeated Rafael Nadal and world No. 1 Novak Djokovic on his way to the final – a first in a clay court tournament – and will climb to No. 6 in the world on Monday. “This tournament is special to me because it’s a tournament I came to watch when I was seven or eight,” said Alcaraz.
The German second seed was impressed.
“At the moment you are the best player in the world. Even if you are still five years old, you still beat us all,” he said after the game against Alcaraz on the court.
Alcaraz broke in the sixth game and comfortably held his serve to take the first set.
The German second seed had reached the final in Madrid with a nine-game winning streak, but after holding the first game of the second set, he unraveled.
Alcaraz galloped through the next five games and took a 0-40 lead, Zverev saved three match points, but then committed a double foul on second and again on the fourth match point.
The German saved three, but then served a fifth double fault of the game to give Alcaraz the win.
promoted
“This is tennis,” Zverev said. “You can’t be perfect every day.”
“Even though I lost quite a bit today, this is still my favorite job in the world,” added Zverev, a champion in the Spanish capital in 2018 and 2021.
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