The 19-year-old young tennis sensation, Carlos Alcaraz has now had two consecutive victories against two of the big 3 members, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal at the Madrid Open.
After defeating Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals via an exciting three-set thriller, Novak Djokovic fell victim to Alcaraz’s skills via a 6-7(5), 7-5 and 7-6(5) in the ATP 1000 event.
The momentum was surely on the Spaniard’s side, especially after his win over Rafael Nadal. However, the crucial part was to back this momentum and his skills, which was justifiably done by the youngster in the Manolo Santana stadium in Madrid.
Carlos came back from the disappointment of losing an extremely closely poised first set tiebreak to probably winning the biggest match of his career by completing the biggest win of his professional tennis career by defeating the current world number 1, Novak Djokovic.
Alcaraz struck a total of 51 winners against Djokovic’s 24 which could well have been the turning point in deciding the victor of the match. In addition, Carlos’s aggressive style and his frequent drop shots caused massive headaches to Novak Djokovic.
Carlos was certainly the better player in pressure as well since he saved five out of the six break points he faced.
Who will Carlos Alcaraz face in the finals of the Madrid Open?
With his win against Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively, he is set to face the German tennis star Alexander Zverev in the finals of the clay surfaced, Madrid Open. At the prospect of facing Zverev, Carlos in an interview stated,
“I just try to make results, to [play] a good game in every tournament to still be there with the best in the world,” said Alcaraz. “Tomorrow I will go for it in the final as I did in Miami, and I’m really happy to be able to play a second Masters 1000 final.”
Carlos Alcaraz continues to be one of the most dangerous and in-form players on the court right now. On his victory over Novak he stated,
“I don’t know what the difference [between us] was,”
“It was so close. He had the chances to break my serve at the end of the second set. In the first set as well it was so close in the tie-break. Honestly I don’t know what made the difference.”
This win makes Carlos the first player to defeat Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in the same clay-court event.
All of the fans would surely be hoping for Carlos to end this tournament on a high by defeating the German, Alexander Zverev in the finals.