Carlos Alcaras beats Alexander Zverev to win Madrid Open
Written byTimes Magazine
Spanish teenager Carlos Alcaras ended a magical week by defeating defending champion Alexander Zverev in the Madrid Open final. The 19-year-old, who beat Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in their previous two matches, overtook second-placed Germany 6-3, 6-1.
It is Alcaras' second crown of the Masters 1000 after Miami last month and his fourth title this year. He needs to move up to sixth in the world ahead of the French Open in May.
Alcaras was in important form from the start against Zverev, whose semi-final against fourth-placed Greece Stefanos Tsitsipas ended just after 01:00 local time on Sunday (00:00 BST).
From the start, he beat and beat Germany, who was chasing a third title in the Spanish capital. Zverev seemed wholly incompetent and unable to cope with the sport's rising star. Alcaras made it 4-2 in the first set and then had complete control, stunning the home crowd with multiple shots and keeping his opponent running.
The teenager broke his opponent three times in the second set to finish in just over an hour and four minutes.
"Need to make a better schedule... Yesterday I started at 11 pm. I played three sets. I finished at 01:30," said the world number three. "By the time I come back to the hotel, while eating, while doing my work with the physio because I had to prepare my body for the next day, it was 5:00 in the morning.
“If you stay up until 4-5 in the morning, you will be tired the next day. If you do it 2 nights in a row, you will die, be crushed, and not be able to perform to the fullest extent of physical activity.
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