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Spaniard captures 10th tour-level title
Carlos Alcaraz captured his fifth ATP Masters 1000 title Sunday when he overcame German lucky loser Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to successfully defend his crown at the Mutua Madrid Open.

The 20-year-old Spaniard joined Rafael Nadal as the only consecutive Madrid champions in tournament history and is the youngest player to successfully defend an ATP Masters 1000 title since Nadal at Monte-Carlo and Rome in 2005-06.

With his 29th win of the season and 10th tour-level title, Alcaraz will rise to No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings after playing his opening match in Rome.

Alcaraz struggled on serve at times throughout the two-hour, 25-minute final, winning just 60 per cent (27/45) of his first-serve points in the opening two sets. The top seed battled hard, though, and survived an attacking bombardment from the big-serving German. He blasted his explosive groundstrokes at the incoming Struff with authority and precision in the third set, striking nine winners in the third set to triumph.


Alcaraz has now earned 21 consecutive wins at Spanish clay-court events and improved to 2-1 in his ATP Head2Head series against Struff. The 33-year-old Struff was the first lucky loser to reach an ATP Masters 1000 final since the series started in 1990 and was aiming to become just the fourth player and first in more than 20 years to win his first tour-level trophy at an ATP Masters 1000.

Struff, who upset Stefanos Tsitsipas and avenged his qualifying loss against Aslan Karatsev en route to his second tour-level final, is up to No. 28 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.

Alcaraz has won four tour-level titles this season. He triumphed on clay in Buenos Aires and Barcelona and clinched the crown on hard in Indian Wells. With his victory in the Spanish captital, he took the lead in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin. It is the first time this season Alcaraz has led the Live Race.

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The defending champion survived heavy-hitting from the German throughout the 53-minute first set, hanging in rallies with his exceptional agility to force Struff into errors. Alcaraz gained what proved to be the decisive break of the first set at 3-3 when Struff double faulted, battled from 0/40 to hold when serving for the set.

Struff responded by striking his clean-hitting groundstrokes with authority against Alcaraz. He serve and volleyed throughout the second set and crucially saved five break points at 3-1 to hold before levelling the match.

Alcaraz won just 60 per cent (27/45) of his first-serve points in the first and second sets but improved to 81 per cent (17/21) in the decider. He began to win the lengthy exchanges and hit with more freedom as the match went. He also pulled Struff around the court with his drop shot to earn victory.

Did You Know?
At 20 years old and two days, Alcaraz is the sixth-youngest player to win 10 tour-level tournaments in the Open Era.

Spaniard passes Medvedev and Djokovic in Madrid
Carlos Alcaraz took the lead in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin on Sunday by winning the Mutua Madrid Open. It is the first time this season the Spaniard has led the Live Race.

The 20-year-old in Madrid passed both Daniil Medvedev (3,300 points) and Novak Djokovic (2,565 points) to surge into the top spot. He owns a 110-point advantage over Medvedev leading into the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, the season’s fifth ATP Masters 1000 event.

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Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin

Player Points
1) Carlos Alcaraz 3,410
2) Daniil Medvedev 3,300
3) Novak Djokovic 2,565
4) Stefanos Tsitsipas 2,230
5) Jannik Sinner 2,185
6) Andrey Rublev 2,125
7) Taylor Fritz 1,815
Karen Khachanov 1,530
The Live Race serves as the year-to-date standings and the barometer for the battle to finish as the year-end ATP No. 1 presented by Pepperstone. Last year, then-19-year-old Alcaraz became the youngest year-end No. 1 in history. The Live Race also determines the qualifiers for the Nitto ATP Finals, which will be held in Turin at the Pala Alpitour from 12-19 November.

After Rome, Alcaraz is also poised to return to World No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, which accounts for a player’s results over the past 52 weeks.

When the Internazionali BNL d’Italia draw is released, Alcaraz will lead Novak Djokovic by 995 points in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings. By playing his first match, he will earn at least 10 points, guaranteeing his return to World No. 1.

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Alcaraz is now 29-2 on the season with four titles. After missing the Australian swing due to injury, the Spaniard has triumphed in Buenos Aires, Indian Wells, Barcelona and Madrid. His earliest loss of the year came in the semi-finals of Miami to Jannik Sinner.

The player Alcaraz defeated in the Madrid final, Jan-Lennard Struff, climbed 18 places to 13th in the Live Race with 1,102 points. The German is within 428 points of eighth-placed Karen Khachanov for the final qualifying spot for the Nitto ATP Finals.