Carlos Alcaraz provided further evidence of his Roland Garros title credentials as he retained the Madrid Open title with a gritty win over Lucky Loser Jan-Lennard Struff.
The World No. 2 was far from his best and had to come through some tricky moments in front of a passionate home crowd to secure his 10th Tour level title – and his fourth of 2023 – with a 6-4 3-6 6-3 success in two hours and 26 minutes.
Ad The result sees the 20-year-old join Rafael Nadal as one of only two players to triumph back-to-back in Madrid, while he also becomes the youngest player since the 22-Grand Slam champion to defend an ATP Masters 1000 title.
ATP Madrid'Air of anticipation' — Spain counts down to Alcaraz and Swiatek Madrid Open finals05/05/2023 AT 19:24 Indeed, the growing talk of Alcaraz now being a red-hot favourite to go on and claim a maiden French Open crown is highly conceivable given Nadal’s continued injury travails and the fact the Murcia-born starlet is now 19-1 on clay and 29-2 overall for the year so far.