MADRID – After defeating Rafael Nadal on Friday, Spanish teenager Carlos Alcaras did it again on Saturday with world number 1 disorder Novak Djokovic at the Madrid Open tennis tournament.
After defeating Nadal, his idol, in the quarterfinals, the 19-year-old teamed up to beat Djokovic 6-7 (5), 7-5, 7-6 (5) in a match that lasted more than 3½ hours to reaches the Madrid Open.
“It was one of those matches to enjoy,” Alcaras said. “Despite the tension, even though I was in the semifinals of the Masters 1000, 7-6 in the tiebreak in the third set … I was enjoying myself. I could smile until the last point.”
Alcaras scored his third match point to win in front of a boisterous home crowd on the central court of Caja Magica. He became the first player to beat Djokovic and Nadal in the same clay court event.
“Playing against the world’s number one player in front of this audience here in Madrid is amazing,” he said.
Sunday’s victory will give Alcaras his fourth title this season, most of all.
PlayerYearTournamentCarlos Alcaraz2022Madrid Roger Federer2010ATP Finals Nikolai Davidenko2009ShanghaiAndi Roddick2008DubaiDavid Nalbandian2007Madrid– ESPN Statistics and Information
He will face defending champion Alexander Zverev or Stefanos Tsitsipas, who met in the late semifinals on Saturday.
Alcaras, the youngest player in the top 10 since Nadal in 2005, won this year in Miami, Rio de Janeiro and Barcelona.
He defeated Nadal for the first time on Friday, then triumphed against Djokovic in their first match, becoming only the fifth player to beat the two superstars in a row – and the first since Roger Federer’s feat in the 2010 ATP finals. d.
Alcaras also became the youngest player to beat the ATP world number one after Nadal defeated Federer in the semifinals of the 2005 French Open on his 19th birthday.
Djokovic remains without a title this season as he continues to try to regain his best form in defending his French Open title this month.
Alcaras, the youngest ever to reach the semi-finals in Madrid, took the lead in the first set, but Djokovic came together.
The Spaniard took the second set after Djokovic squandered three break points to serve for the match, then continued the pressure during the third, until he finally took advantage of one of his many chances in the tiebreak.
The winner of the match was one of Alcaras’ more than 30 forehand winners, who kept Djokovic in defense all the time. Alcaras had 51 winners against Djokovic’s 24.
“It was so close,” Alcaraz said. “He had a chance to break my serve at the end of the second set. And in the first set he was so close in the tiebreak. Honestly, I don’t know what made the difference.”
Djokovic praised Alcaras after arriving in Madrid this week and said his son had already replaced Nadal with the young Spaniard as his favorite player.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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