Carlos Alcaraz turns 20 in ten days. The young Spaniard will stay remembered as one of the most excellent teenagers of the Open era, becoming world no. 1 and conquering a Major and three Masters 1000 events. Alcaraz reached his 12th ATP final in Barcelona last week, becoming the seventh player in the Open era to achieve that before turning 20.
Carlos joined Bjorn Borg, Mats Wilander, Boris Becker, Rafael Nadal, Andre Agassi and Andrei Medvedev on the exclusive list. The young Spaniard is the first teenager with 12 ATP finals since Rafael Nadal, with no one to join the list anytime soon.
Alcaraz skipped Monte Carlos following deep runs in Indian Wells and Miami. The young gun returned in Barcelona and conquered his ninth ATP title without losing a set. Carlos took down Nuno Borges, Roberto Bautista Agut, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Daniel Evans to set the title clash against the 2nd seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The Spaniard scored a convincing 6-3, 6-4 triumph in an hour and 18 minutes. Two top seeds met for the first time in a year, and the young gun secured his fourth victory from as many duels. Alcaraz produced another fantastic performance to lift his third title of the season and improve to 23-2 in 2023!
The Spaniard fired 26 winners and seven unforced errors, dominating with his initial shot and dropping ten points in ten service games. Tsitsipas broke once, and he needed more to remain in contention. The Greek struggled on the second serve and got broken three times from six opportunities offered to his rival to lose his third Barcelona Open final!
Carlos kicked off the action with a hold at love in the encounter’s first game before playing his only loose service game at 1-1.
Carlos Alcaraz is the seventh teenager with 12 ATP finals.
He netted a backhand on the third break point to fall 2-1 behind.
Tsitsipas lost the advantage after a costly double fault in the fourth game and struggled for the rest of the clash. Alcaraz moved 4-3 up with two fine holds and broke for the second time in the next one after a well-constructed attack.
The young gun served for the set at 5-3 and earned three set points with a powerful serve. Carlos converted the second with a service winner for 6-3 in 38 minutes. Both players served well at the start of the second set for 2-2.
Alcaraz placed a drop shot winner in the fifth game for break chances and seized the second following Tsitsipas’ loose backhand that sent him 3-2 ahead. Carlos grabbed the sixth game at 15 with an additional injection of pace and moved closer to the finish line.
Stefanos landed a drop shot winner in game seven to remain within one break deficit before Carlos produced an easy hold to open a 5-3 gap. A two-time finalist served to stay in the match in game nine and held at love to extend his chances.
Alcaraz served for the title defense at 5-4 and moved 30-0 up with a drop shot winner. A teenager fired a forehand down the line winner for three match points and converted the first with a mighty forehand winner that carried him toward his ninth ATP crown at such a young age.
