Tag Archives: Carlos Alcaraz

Carlos Alcaraz Clinches Year-End No. 1 Ranking with ATP Finals Win Over Lorenzo Musetti

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Carlos Alcaraz is ended the year on top…

The 22-year-old Spanish tennis star needed less than 90 minutes to secure the year-ending No. 1 ranking in men’s tennis during his latest match at the ATP Finals..

Carlos AlcarazAlcaraz needed one more win to beat Jannik Sinner to the No. 1 spot, and he eased to a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Italian Lorenzo Musetti on Thursday to sweep his group at the season-ending event for the top eight players.

“It means the world to me, to be honest,” Alcaraz said in his on-court interview. “The year No. 1 is always a goal. To be honest, at the beginning of the year, I saw that the No. 1 [was] really, really far away, with Jannik there, winning almost every tournament he plays.

“From the middle of the season till now, I put the goal for the No. 1 because I thought it was there … and finally, I got it. For me, it means everything, the work that we put every day during the whole season, up and downs … so I’m really proud about my team and myself.”

It’s the second time in his career that Alcaraz has ended the year at the top of the rankings.

Alcaraz became the youngest player to finish a year at No. 1 in 2022, when he achieved the feat as a 19-year-old.

Alcaraz had to win three of his matches at the ATP Finals to finish No. 1, while Sinner had to go undefeated to defend his title to have a chance.

Alcaraz – who admitted he was feeling nervous at the beginning of the match –

didn’t give Sinner that chance as he swept aside Musetti despite a partisan home crowd, sealing the result on his third match point.

That was his third win in the Jimmy Connors group, and Alcaraz will face the winner of Friday’s match between Alexander Zverev and Felix Auger-Aliassime in Saturday’s semifinal.

Alex de Minaur Defeats Nuno Borges at Shanghai Masters for his 50th ATP Tour-Level Victory This Season

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Alex de Minaur is celebrating a milestone victory…

The 26-year-old Spanish-Uruguayan Australian professional tennis player became the third player this season to win 50 ATP Tour-level games by defeating Nuno Borges 7-5, 6-2 at the Shanghai Masters on Wednesday.

Alex de Minaurde Minaur, the tournament’s seventh seed, hit 19 winners on the way to reach his seventh Masters 1000 quarterfinal in one hour and 47 minutes.

Only top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz with 67 wins and Taylor Fritz with 50 have already reached the 50-win mark in 2025.

In his previous best season, de Minaur had 47 wins in 2024, and two titles.

He will next face 16th-seeded Daniil Medvedev who defeated Learner Tien 7-6 (6), 6-7 (1), 6-4.

Carlos Alcaraz Claims Cincinnati Open Title After Jannik Sinner Retires in First Set

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Carlos Alcaraz didn’t have to break much of a sweat to claim the Cincinnati Open title.

The 22-year-old Spanish tennis star claimed the title in just over 20 minutes on Monday after top-ranked Jannik Sinner was forced to retire due to illness during the first set.

Carlos AlcarazMeeting in the final for the fourth time this year and first since Wimbledon, Sinner fell behind 5-0 in the first set with nine unforced errors. He was seen with an icepack on his head during a break and retired after playing only 22 minutes.

“Didn’t feel great from yesterday,” Sinner said. “Also, during the night, I thought I would recover a bit better, but it was not the case. I just tried to go out for the fans, trying to give a match. But it was not meant to be for me today.”

It was only the third time the Cincinnati Open men’s final ended in a retirement, and the first since 2011 when Novak Djokovic stopped playing in the second set because of a shoulder injury.

“Wanted to wish Jannik a speedy recovery and in a few days, hopefully he’s going to be OK,” Alcaraz said. “For myself, I am really, really happy to lift the trophy. I lost the final here in 2023. I wanted really badly this trophy.”

Sinner, who turned 24 on Saturday, was on a 12-match winning streak and had won 26 straight matches on hard courts. He was bidding to become the first player to win back-to-back men’s Cincinnati Open titles since Roger Federer in 2014 and ’15.

Alcaraz, who is ranked No. 2, now holds a 9-5 advantage in his matchups with Sinner.

This year, Sinner won in four sets at Wimbledon, and Alcaraz won a five-set thriller at the French Open and in straight sets at the Rome Masters in May.

Another classic matchup wasn’t to be Monday. Sinner received medical attention after having his serve broken for the third time and retired moments later.

“After the third game, I just noticed that he wasn’t feeling good,” Alcaraz said. “I know him. I’ve been battling against him, having great matches, great battles. I noticed he was missing more often. It’s pretty weird from him.”

It was only the third time the top two men’s players have met in the Cincinnati Open final, the previous times were No. 2 Djokovic and No. 1 Alcaraz in 2022 and No. 1 Roger Federer and No. 2 Djokovic in 2012.

The Cincinnati Open is considered a tuneup for the U.S. Open, which begins Sunday in New York. The past two years, both the men’s and women’s Cincinnati Open champions went on to win the final Grand Slam tournament of the year.

Carlos Alcaraz Defeats Alexander Zverev to Reach Cincinnati Open Final

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Carlos Alcaraz has reached the Cincinnati Open final…

The 22-year-old Spanish professional tennis player defeated Alexander Zverev 6-4, 6-3 in the semifinals on Saturday night to advance to the title match.

Carlos Alcaraz,“It’s never easy playing against someone you know is not 100 percent,” said Alcaraz after his victory.

After seeing what happened to Alcaraz early in the second set, those words may sound like something of an understatement.

With Alcaraz up a set and serving at 1-0 in the second, Zverev stopped moving for anything that was more than a step away from him. He let one groundstroke go by, and waved at a serve while holding his racquet in his left hand. Alcaraz was up 40-15, and the air had gone out of the arena, as Zverev looked ready to wave the white flag.

Somehow, Alcaraz found a way to keep Zverev in it for longer than seemed possible, or healthy for the German.

Alcaraz double faulted four times in that game alone, and sent a forehand long at break point. Zverev was alive, and a few minutes later Alcaraz was letting out a scream of disbelief.

“All of a sudden he started feeling really bad,” Alcaraz said. “And then my focus, I started thinking about how he’s feeling, besides focusing on myself and playing good tennis.”

All’s well that ends well, of course, for Alcaraz. In this case, all’s well that starts well, too. The first set was a good one from both guys, with sharp, all-court rallies and a mix of power and touch. Most promising for Alcaraz was the way he dug himself out of a 0-40 hold at 2-3, and then turned around and broke serve at 3-3. He saved two of those break points with deft forehand drop shots, and broke Zverev by sticking a crosscourt backhand volley a foot from the sideline. From there, Alcaraz’s serve started to click, and he finished with 11 aces in nine service games.

“We started the match really good, good rallies, good level of tennis,” Alcaraz said, lamenting the fact that it didn’t stay that way.

While Zverev made the semifinal at a Masters 1000 this week, his physical state is concerning going into the US Open. This was the second straight night where he struggled to breathe and move, sweated much more than is normal for him, and was forced to call the doctor onto the court. It has been hot and humid in Cincinnati, but he played both of those matches in the evening, when the worst of the weather had past.

If Zverev is already thinking of New York, Alcaraz has one more piece of business to attend to in Cincinnati. A pretty big piece of business, in fact: Another final with Jannik Sinner, their fourth of 2025.

What can he take from Saturday’s semi into Monday’s final? On the plus side, he can be hopeful about his serve, and how much it can help him on these fast courts. On the minus side, he showed signs against Zverev that a second-set letdown was coming, something that had already happened to him twice here. Who knows how the set would have played out if Zverev had been healthy.

But all of that is in the past, and now Alcaraz and Sinner can ascend into their private stratosphere, with the sports world as happy spectators again. Alcaraz, who is coming off a loss to Sinner at Wimbledon last month, sounds like he’s not going to settle for anything less than his best this time around.

“We really bring out beautiful tennis,” Alcaraz said of their Top 2 rivalry. “I’m ready for the challenge. Just to be ready and perfect.”

Carlos Alcaraz Defeats Taylor Fritz to Reach Wimbledon Final

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Carlos Alcaraz is one step closer to a three-peat…

The 22-year-old Spanish tennis star moved within one victory of a third consecutive Wimbledon championship and sixth Grand Slam title overall by taking down Taylor Fritz 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (6) on Friday.

Carlos AlcarazNo. 2 seed Alcaraz takes a 24-match winning streak into the final Sunday, when he’ll face No. 1 Jannik Sinner, who took apart 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic in straight sets 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 on Friday afternoon.

“Not thinking about the winning streak. Not thinking about the results at all. Thinking about … my dream,” Alcaraz said. “Right now, I don’t want to think about Sunday, to be honest. I just want to enjoy this moment, enjoy that I qualified [for] another final.”

Alcaraz opened as a -150 favorite over Sinner (+100) for the men’s Wimbledon final, according to ESPN BET odds. Alcaraz (+120) and Sinner (+190) were the sportsbook’s two favorites to win the tournament, as well as its most-popular future plays, from the beginning with a combined 76.7% of the handle going into Friday’s semifinals.

Alcaraz is 5-0 in major finals, including wins over Djokovic in the 2023 and 2024 Wimbledon finals, and a five-set comeback win over Sinner at the French Open a month ago.

Fritz had two chances to force a fifth set against Alcaraz, leading 6-4 in the tiebreaker. But Alcaraz collected the next four points to finish off the win, then rocked back on his heels, spread his arms wide and screamed.

“I’m just really proud about the way that I stayed calm,” Alcaraz said, “and then [was] thinking clearly.”

That wasn’t the only time Fritz made things interesting. He accumulated more total points than Alcaraz through the first two sets, and he finished with more winners — 44 to 38 — and 19 total aces to 13.

When Alcaraz double-faulted, then missed a forehand, to drop the second, they were even at a set apiece.

But with five-time Wimbledon champion Bjorn Borg and celebrities like Anna Wintour and Leonardo DiCaprio looking on, Alcaraz quickly recovered from that lapse, marking some of his best shots with a shout of “Vamos!” or a raised index finger. He never faced a break point the rest of the way, while stealing two of Fritz’s service games in the third set.

“A lot of the things that I would have changed, I think would have only helped me for a point or two, and then I think Carlos would have just made an adjustment,” Fritz said, “and I don’t think it would have been a long-term answer.”

Even when Fritz did get an opportunity to get back into things, Alcaraz was ready. In the fourth set’s first game, Alcaraz provided Fritz a bit of an opening by missing two forehands for love-30. But Alcaraz shut that door just as quickly with four points in a row, including a 134 mph ace and 135 mph service winner.

Amid the tension of the tiebreaker, Fritz took time to delicately lift a butterfly off the grass and out of harm’s way. Soon, he had grabbed five straight points to reach the precipice of going to a fifth set. But Alcaraz never let Fritz get any closer, forcing four errors.

The temperature topped 85 degrees Fahrenheit, with no clouds to offer protection from the sun. For the second consecutive day, spectators had trouble in the heat; there were two brief delays in one second-set game while fans needed to be helped.

The pop of a champagne cork could be heard in the stands just before the start, and Alcaraz burst out of the gate, taking 10 of the initial 12 points, including a break for a 1-0 lead. That game featured glimpses of why Alcaraz is so great already. Indeed, the very first point was illustrative: He returned a 135 mph serve, then capped a 10-stroke exchange with a delicate drop shot.

There would soon be a forehand winner, then a good return that drew a netted response by Fritz. A return of a 128 mph serve that found chalk led to a net-cord winner for the break.

More was to come in a terrific set for Alcaraz. He even managed to out-serve Fritz, delivering six aces and 20 of his 24 service points while reaching 137 mph. Alcaraz won the point on all three of his serve-and-volley tries, including one perfect stop volley. By the end, Alcaraz was 31-for-41 when at the net.

“I feel like that’s the best I’ve seen him serve,” Fritz said.

Carlos Alcaraz Defeats Cam Norrie to Reach Semifinals at Wimbledon

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Carlos Alcaraz is two wins away from a three-peat…

The 22-year-old Spanish tennis star and two-time defending Wimbledon champion has reached the semifinals at the All England Club after beating unseeded Cam Norrie, the last British player in either singles bracket, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 on Tuesday.

Carlos AlcarazAlcaraz extended his career-best winning streak to 23 matches — the longest tour-level win streak by any man 22 or younger since Juan Martin del Potro won 23 straight matches in 2008 from Stuttgart to the US Open as a 19-year-old. Alcaraz turned 22 in May.

Second-seeded Alcaraz, making his fifth main draw appearance, improved to 23-2 at Wimbledon; among men to debut in the Open era, only Bjorn Borg has more match wins in his first five appearances at the All England Club.

After Norrie held serve to open the match on Centre Court, Alcaraz took control by rattling off the next five games against the left-hander.

He blazed through the opening set in 28 minutes, many of the Centre Court seats still empty as fans sought refreshment after watching Aryna Sabalenka‘s 2-hour-and-54-minute quarterfinal victory.

Alcaraz never let Norrie into the match — facing only five break points and saving all of them. He compiled 39 winners and 13 aces to go with 26 unforced errors.

“To be able to play another semifinal here at Wimbledon is super special,” Alcaraz said in an on-court interview after finishing off his quarterfinal match in 1 hour, 39 minutes.

Alcaraz won 89% of his first-serve points against Norrie, the highest mark in any major match of his young career.

He will face No. 5 American Taylor Fritz for a spot in the final.

Alcaraz will have two days off before facing Fritz on Friday, owing to the All England Club schedule.

When asked how he would use the time, one fan in the crowd suggested he could return to Ibiza, the Balearic island where Alcaraz celebrated after winning his second consecutive French Open last month.

Alcaraz is looking to become the fourth man to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year multiple times. He would join Borg (3 times: 1978-80), Rod Laver (1962, 1969) and Rafael Nadal (2008, 2010).

Carlos Alcaraz Defeats Andrey Rublev to Advance to Wimbledon Quarterfinals

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Carlos Alcaraz continues his Wimbledon winning streak.

The 22-year-old Spanish tennis star’s latest up-and-down Wimbledon performance began with a dropped set. Later Sunday, he was in danger of getting broken to fall further behind in the third.

Carlos Alcaraz, But then, as he so often does, Alcaraz seized the moment, produced some magic and moved closer to a third consecutive title at the All England Club.

Alcaraz stretched his winning streak in the grass-court Grand Slam tournament to 18 matches — and his unbeaten run across all events to 22 — by coming back to defeat No. 14 seed Andrey Rublev 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 at Centre Court and return to the quarterfinals.

Alcaraz, the No. 2 seed, earned his 75th major match win in 87 opportunities — equaling Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe as the fastest men in the Open era to 75 victories at majors.

In this fortnight’s first matchup between two men ranked in the top 20, Alcaraz brought out his best while down 3-2 in the third set. First, he needed to fend off a break chance for Rublev, doing so with a forehand passing winner.

After eventually holding to 3-all, Alcaraz earned his own break opportunity and didn’t let Rublev escape. On an eight-stroke exchange, Alcaraz sprinted from one corner of the court to the other and, with a stomp of his right foot and a bit of a slide, flicked a crosscourt forehand winner.

Alcaraz spread his arms wide, pointed to his right ear and basked in the crowd’s loud adulation, the noise bouncing off the underside of the stadium’s closed roof.

Rublev sat in his sideline chair, looked up at his guest box and made an “OK” hand signal. Just 10 minutes later, that set belonged to Alcaraz, who will face 2022 semifinalist Cam Norrie — the last British player in singles — on Tuesday for a berth in the semifinals.

“I always said that it’s just about belief in yourself,” Alcaraz said. “It doesn’t matter that you are one-set-to-love down. Tennis is a sport that can change in just one point. One point can change the match completely, turn around everything.”

At 22, Alcaraz already owns five Grand Slam trophies and will be making his 12th major quarterfinal appearance, matching the second most by any man before his 23rd birthday and trailing only Boris Becker’s 13.

Alcaraz hasn’t lost a match anywhere since April 20 against Holger Rune in the final at Barcelona.

Carlos Alcaraz Extends Match Winning Streak to Personal ATP Tour-Best 20 with Wimbledon Victory Over Oliver Tarvet

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It’s a personal best winning streak for Carlos Alcaraz.

The 22-year-old Spanish tennis star defeated 733rd-ranked Oliver Tarvet 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 in the second-round of Wimbledon to extend his match winning streak to 20, the longest of his ATP Tour-level career that includes defending his title at the French Open.

Carlos AlcarazWhile he had to face several break points along the way — saving all but two — it was a considerably smoother win than his 4½-hour, five-set victory over Fabio Fognini in the opening round.

“I just love his game, to be honest,” Alcaraz said. “I knew at the beginning that I had to be really focused and try to play my best tennis.”

Asked about his recent run of success, Alcaraz said the key for him the past two to three months has been finding the “right way to enjoy … doesn’t matter if I’m winning or losing.”

Alcaraz became the third man in tennis history to win 20 or more matches at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon before his 23rd birthday. The others are Bjorn Borg and Rafael Nadal.

He will next face either 25th-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime or Jan-Lennard Struff in the third round, as the Spaniard bids for a third straight Wimbledon title.

The match between Auger-Aliassime and Struff was suspended, level after two sets, due to darkness.

Carlos Alcaraz Defeats Jiri Lehecka to Claim Second Career Queen’s Club Title

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Carlos Alcaraz is sending out a powerful statement ahead of his Wimbledon defense.

The 22-year-old Spanish tennis star, the top seed, defeated Czech player Jiri Lehecka 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-2 on Sunday to claim his second Queen’s Club title.

Carlos AlcarazAlcaraz, who triumphed at Queen’s Club a few weeks before claiming his first Wimbledon title in 2023, extended his winning streak to 18 matches, but was pushed hard by the powerful Lehecka, who underlined his own credentials as a rising force.

Alcaraz pounced at 5-5 to break Lehecka’s serve en route to bagging the opening set in 45 minutes.

The 23-year-old Lehecka, bidding to become the first Czech player to win the Queen’s Club title since Ivan Lendl in 1990, continued going toe-to-toe with the five-time Grand Slam champion and won the second-set tiebreaker with some clinical tennis.

Alcaraz forged ahead 4-1 in the deciding set, however, as Lehecka’s level finally began to drop. Alcaraz again broke Lehecka’s serve to complete the win, letting out a roar of delight as his opponent struck a backhand into the net.

Alcaraz did not face a single break point and slammed down 18 aces on his way to a 21st career title.

Wimbledon starts June 30.

Roberto Bautista Agut Defeats Holger Rune to Advance to Queen’s Club Semifinals

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Roberto Bautista Agut has pulled off an major upset…

The 37-year-old Spanish professional tennis player claimed a two-sets-to-one victory (7-6 [5], 6-7 [4], 6-2) over Denmark’s Holger Rune, the No. 4 seed, on Friday evening to reach the semifinals of the Queen’s Club tournament in London.

Roberto Bautista AgutIt marks his first appearance in an ATP semifinal since October 2024, when he won the title in Antwerp, and his first on grass since the Halle tournament in 2023.

Grass has historically been a successful surface for Bautista Agut: he won his first career title on it in 2014 at ‘s-Hertogenbosch and achieved his best Grand Slam result on it — a semifinal at Wimbledon in 2019.

This Friday against Rune, he once again showed why he’s such an effective player on grass. Bautista Agut took advantage of his opponent’s numerous unforced errors — 63 in total — to clinch the win. After controlling the first set well, he had the chance to close it out in straight sets, but a double fault at 4-5 in the second-set tiebreak forced him into a deciding third set.

After breaking Rune at the very start of the final set, he maintained his lead all the way through, even managing a second break to seal the match early in the evening on the British grass.

“I think I had control of the match today, especially from the baseline. I managed to stay calm on court, and I’m really happy about that. I felt good out there, and I’ll need to play the same kind of match against Carlos tomorrow,” said Bautista Agut after his victory.

Bautista Agut, currently ranked No. 51 in the ATP rankings, will face fellow Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, the top seed, in the semifinals at the West Kensington tournament.

It will be their third meeting on the ATP Tour, with Alcaraz leading 2–0 and yet to drop a set against his compatriot.

In the previous rounds of the Queen’s tournament, Bautista Agut edged out Portuguese Nuno Borges (6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-4) and No 8 seed Jakub Mensik (3-6, 6-3, 7-5).

Alcaraz beat Arthur Rinderknech (LL): 7-5, 6-4