Tag: Carlos Alcaraz

Carlos Alcaraz clinched his second Queen’s Club title as the world number two warmed up for Wimbledon with a 7-5, 6-7 (5⁄7), 6-2 win against Jiri Lehecka in Sunday’s final.

Alcaraz blasted 33 winners and 18 aces to subdue the gritty Czech world number 30 in two hours and 10 minutes in west London.

Having won titles on clay at the French Open, Rome and Monte Carlo, as well as the hard courts of Rotterdam, Alcaraz has now collected five trophies in 2025.

The 22-year-old has not lost since the Barcelona final against Holger Rune on April 20 and is enjoying the longest winning streak of his career with 18 successive victories.

Top seeded Alcaraz is just the second Spanish man to win Queen’s twice after Feliciano Lopez, who lifted the trophy in 2017 and 2019.

 “I’m happy to lift this trophy once again. It’s a nightmare to play against Jiri, but it’s been an incredible week,” Alcaraz said. “I came without expectations. I just wanted to play good tennis and get used to the grass.

 “It’s really special playing here every year. I can’t wait to come back next year.”

For a player raised on the clay courts of Spain, Alcaraz has developed into a formidable force on grass.

The former world number one signalled his emergence on the surface by winning Queen’s in 2023.

He clinched the Wimbledon title for the first time just weeks later and defended his All England Club crown last year.

Alcaraz, who has an 11-1 career record at Queen’s, will start his bid for a third successive Wimbledon title on June 30.

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After his semi-final win over Roberto Bautista Agut on Saturday, Alcaraz fired an ominous message to his Wimbledon rivals, warning that his “grass-court mode” had been activated.

And on the evidence of his relentless display against the obdurate Lehecka, he is in no mood to surrender his All England Club crown.

Playing his first tournament since his epic French Open victory against Jannik Sinner two weeks ago, Alcaraz’s march to the Queen’s showpiece made it five consecutive finals for the Spaniard.

In contrast, Lehecka was playing in his first grass-court final after a shock win against British star Jack Draper in the last four.

The 23-year-old was the first Czech in the Queen’s final since Ivan Lendl in 1990.

Lehecka had come from a set down to stun Alcaraz in the Qatar Open quarter-finals in February.

But there would be no repeat of that upset on the lawns of Barons Court.

In his second Queen’s final, Alcaraz had an early chance to break in the fifth game of the first set.

Lehecka thundered down an ace to get out of trouble of that occasion.

But the five-time Grand Slam champion matched Lehecka’s serve blow for blow, dropping just one point in his first four service games.

Alcaraz’s piercing ground-strokes increased the pressure and Lehecka finally cracked in the  11^th  game when an badly-timed double-fault gifted the first break to the Spaniard.

Alcaraz served out the set in typically ruthless fashion, but Lehecka refused to surrender without a fight.

A tight second set stayed on serve all the way through to the tie-break and, for once, Alcaraz stumbled with a key double-fault, allowing Lehecka to level the match.

Alcaraz was unfazed, breaking for a 3-1 lead in the deciding set when Lehecka netted an off-balance forehand.

Alcaraz had the finish line in sight and he wrapped up his latest title triumph with a flurry of searing winners.

Carlos Alcaraz saved three championship points as he produced an astonishing fightback from two sets down to beat Jannik Sinner in a French Open final for the ages.

Reigning champion Alcaraz rallied from the brink of defeat to overcome world number one Sinner 4-6, 6-7 (4⁄7), 6-4, 7-6 (7⁄3), 7-6 (10⁄2) to clinch his fifth Grand Slam title after five hours and 29 minutes on Sunday.

The 22-year-old Spaniard is now unbeaten in five Grand Slam finals after snapping Sinner’s 20-match winning run at the majors.

Alcaraz pulled off his first ever comeback from two sets down to stun Sinner in the longest Roland Garros final in history. It easily eclipsed the 1982 final in Paris when Mats Wilander triumphed in four sets over Guillermo Vilas in 4hr 42min.

Alcaraz becomes the third youngest man to win five Grand Slams – after Bjorn Borg and compatriot Rafael Nadal – following an incredible duel between the two stars of a new generation.

Sinner fell agonisingly short of a third successive Grand Slam crown after last year’s US Open title and back-to-back Australian Open triumphs.

He suffered his fifth straight loss to Alcaraz in what was their first meeting in a Grand Slam final – and the first championship match at a major between two men born in the 2000s.

Alcaraz leads 8-5 overall having also beaten Sinner to win in Rome, where the Italian returned to competition in May after a three-month doping ban.

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Alcaraz put the pressure on Sinner by carving out three break points to start Saturday’s final, but the Italian resisted and soon had a chance of his own.

He couldn’t take advantage and found himself having to fend off two more break points at 1-1, producing clutch serves to grind out another tough hold.

Alcaraz’s persistence paid off in the fifth game when he broke to nudge 3-2 ahead, only for the Spaniard to immediately hand the lead back.

The unshakeable Sinner threatened to break again at 4-3, with a brief lapse from Alcaraz eventually enabling Sinner to snatch the first set.

Sinner hit the accelerator to start the second set, surging 3-0 in front. After facing seven break points in the opener, he tightened up considerably on serve.

But Alcaraz brought up his first break point of the second set with Sinner serving for a two-set lead, duly pouncing on the opportunity to check his rival’s momentum.

With the swagger back in his step at a crucial juncture, Alcaraz sought to bring the crowd into the contest but Sinner remained unflustered in the tie-break.

The first five points went with serve before Sinner whipped a forehand down the line and Alcaraz then steered an attempted drop-shot wide.

A tame return into the net presented Sinner with four set points. Alcaraz saved two before Sinner unleashed a blistering cross-court forehand to move to within a set of the trophy.

It all looked to be going his way when he broke Alcaraz to begin the third set, but the Spaniard refused to surrender his title quietly and rattled off four games on the bounce to lead 4-1.

Alcaraz lost serve at 5-3 but promptly broke to love to force a fourth set, lapping up the roars of the Court Philippe Chatrier crowd.

That ended Sinner’s run of 31 consecutive sets won at Grand Slams.

Alcaraz saved a break point in the third game amid a series of holds as Sinner doubled down. The Italian appeared to be closing in on victory when he broke at 3-3 as the finish line neared.

But Alcaraz had other ideas as he staved off three championship points at 3-5 and then broke Sinner when he tried to seal the title on his serve.

Successive aces spurred a reinvigorated Alcaraz on in the tie-break and into a decisive fifth set.

A despairing Sinner lost his serve right away and his gloom deepened as Alcaraz saved two break points to pull 3-1 ahead, but incredibly there was another twist.

Alcaraz this time faltered with the title within his grasp as Sinner broke at 3-5 to spark a three-game burst that left the Spaniard needing to hold serve to prolong the final.

He kept his nerve to set up a 10-point tie-break, which Alcaraz ran away with as the outrageous shot-making continued until the very end when he took his first championship point with a sizzling forehand down the line.

World number three Carlos Alcaraz withdrew from the Madrid Open with a thigh injury, in a blow for his French Open title defence preparations.

The Spaniard, a four-time Grand Slam winner, sustained the problem during his Barcelona Open final defeat last Sunday by Holger Rune.

“I did everything that was in my hands but it didn’t improve a lot over the (last few) days,” Alcaraz told a news conference. “Things didn’t work out as I wanted to be able to play here, and we have decided not to take risks.

“If I played, I was going to be messed up for longer than expected… hard decisions had to be made, and I think we made the right one.”

Alcaraz was hoping to lift the trophy in Madrid for the third time after his 2022 and 2023 victories.

The 21-year-old had not trained all week after arriving in the Spanish capital on Monday.

Alcaraz did not rule out competing in the Italian Open and said he was sure he would make the French Open, with the main draw beginning on May 25.

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“I think I will definitely be at Roland Garros and I will do everything possible to be in Rome,” said Alcaraz.

“On Monday I’ll have another test to see how it’s evolved, and from there we’ll take the timings and evaluate how the next few weeks are going to be and how my body is doing.”

Alcaraz said in addition to the right thigh injury he suffered in Barcelona he had also noticed a problem with his left hamstring.

He has struggled for consistency over the first few months of the year, knocked out early in Miami but then winning the Monte Carlo Masters in April.

“It was the first year I went really far in Monte Carlo but it was also the first year I lost in the first match in Miami, so I had time to prepare for the clay season,” Alcaraz said.

“It is not easy – a different surface, coming from hard court to clay court and playing so many matches in a row and having no time to rest, is not easy.

“Tennis players have to take difficult decisions sometimes.”

Alcaraz won every match he played in Barcelona in straight sets until the final against Rune, which he lost 7-6 (8⁄6), 6-2 after needing a medical time-out to treat his thigh.

“Mentally I think I’m strong to play good tennis again, so this is not going to take my confidence away,” added Alcaraz.

“If I don’t play Rome, or if I don’t play any tournaments before Roland Garros, I don’t care about it.

“I know what is my level, I know what I have to do to play good tennis.”

 Carlos Alcaraz opened his account at the ATP Finals with an entertaining 6-3, 7-6 (10⁄8) win over Andrey Rublev which boosted his hopes of reaching the semi-finals.

World number three Alcaraz comfortably defeated Rublev to lift himself off the bottom of the John Newcombe Group and looked in much better form despite struggling with fatigue and illness in the lead-up to the match.

There had been some doubt as to whether Alcaraz would continue in Turin after quickly ending his training session on Tuesday, with his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero saying that he had trouble breathing.

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But the Spaniard, winner at Wimbledon and Roland Garros this season, cruised to the first set in 38 minutes, breaking Rublev in game seven and quickly winning the next two to go one set ahead.

And although he had a harder time of it in the second set Alcaraz delighted fans in Turin with a series of spectacular shots which suggested he might be approaching his best form.

Rublev meanwhile drops to last place after losing his sixth straight Finals match, although he put up a battle and had two set points.

Alcaraz winning in straight sets means that Casper Ruud will reach the semi-finals if he beats two-time Finals champion Alexander Zverev in the day’s late match.

Today,  Jannik Sinner will secure passage to the last four if he claims a single set against Daniil Medvedev, and will top the Ilie Nastase Group with a third straight win.

Carlos Alcaraz roared back from a set down to beat world number one Jannik Sinner in a thriller and win his first China Open title.

The four-time Grand Slam champion from Spain edged a captivating final 6-7 (6⁄8), 6-4, 7-6 (7⁄3) for his fourth ATP crown of the year and 16^th  overall.

Alcaraz, who is set to return to number two in the world behind Sinner, was 3-0 down in the final-set tie break only to fight back and win in three hours, 21 minutes.

The dramatic triumph ended Sinner’s run of 14 victories in a row and saw him deposed as the Beijing champion after an almighty fight.

 “What can I say about the year you’re having, it’s unbelievable,” Alcaraz told Sinner at the victory presentation.

 “I respect you a lot as a player, but even more as a person.”

US Open champion Sinner has been playing in Beijing under fresh scrutiny.

The Italian has admitted to sleepless nights over his doping case, which was reignited at the weekend when the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said it had appealed the decision to clear him.

In front of a packed house in the Chinese capital, the early exchanges were nervy with both players under immediate pressure on their service games.

Sinner, 23, was the first to blink, with second-seeded Alcaraz breaking for a 3-1 lead and celebrating with a fist pump.

The Spaniard held easily for 4-1 and had his opponent uncharacteristically rattled.

Alcaraz, 21, served for the set but US Open champion Sinner grabbed the break back when he needed it most.

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Sinner then saved set point on his own serve to force the tie break, and saved another in the tie break before taking the set at his first opportunity when Alcaraz fired long.

It was the first set Alcaraz had dropped all week.

The second set was just as tight.

Both players saw chances come and go but they went with serve until Alcaraz broke for 5-4, before holding with ease to send the final into a third set.

The decider again went to a tie break, where Alcaraz finally prevailed on his first match point.

“It was a great battle again,” said Sinner, who twice tested positive for a steroid in March but tennis authorities cleared him of wrongdoing and allowed him to keep playing.

In August, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) accepted Sinner’s explanation that the drug entered his system unintentionally when his physiotherapist used a spray containing it to treat a cut, then provided massage and sports therapy to the player.

WADA on Saturday said it had appealed and was seeking a ban of up to two years.

Second-seeded Carlos Alcaraz saw his title defence and 14-match winning streak in Madrid come to an end at the hands of Andrey Rublev in the quarter-finals while top-seeded Jannik Sinner withdrew from the tournament citing a right hip injury.

Rublev upset home favourite Alcaraz 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 to reach the semi-finals.

The seventh-seeded Rublev had lost his last five matches against top-three opposition and was 0-1 head-to-head against Alcaraz coming into the contest.

He was also on a four-match losing streak heading into the Madrid Open.

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All that seemed like a distant memory in the quarter-finals against Alcaraz as Rublev maximized on his powerful brand of tennis to shock the Spanish world number three and reach the semi-finals at a seventh different Masters 1000 tournament, from a full set of nine.

Alcaraz missed the clay-court tournaments in Monte Carlo and Barcelona last month due to a forearm injury and needed a third-set tiebreak to squeeze past last year’s finalist Jan-Lennard Struff in the fourth round on Tuesday.

He couldn’t hold off an inspired Rublev though, his quest to become the first man to win three consecutive titles in Madrid coming to a crashing halt.

“I think the key was that I think it was one of my first matches that I was completely calm all the match, I didn’t say one word, even if I was losing,” said Rublev, who now owns at least one victory against each of the current world’s top 10.

Alcaraz played a convincing first set, breaking serve in the fifth game en route to a 41-minute lead. But Rublev brought his A-game to take the next two sets and finished the match in just under two hours, firing 30 winners along the way.

He awaits Taylor Fritz or Francisco Cerundolo in the final four.

Alcaraz said it had  been a positive week in Madrid overall but admits he is still thinking about his forearm, whether it is painful or not.

 “Today probably I felt more in the forearm than yesterday’s match. Playing three hours yesterday, I knew that I’m going to feel something or I’m going to think about it even more.”

The two-time Grand Slam champion acknowledged he has to be patient with regards to his recovery, adding: “I’m going to go to Rome. I’m going to work these days to be close to 100 percent or in a good way to play Rome, but I’m going to decide these days.”