Carlos Alcaraz withstands Jan-Lennard Struff fightback to secure back-to-back titles at Madrid Open

Carlos Alcaraz provided further evidence of his Roland Garros title credentials as he retained the Madrid Open title with a gritty win over Lucky Loser Jan-Lennard Struff.

The World No. 2 was far from his best and had to come through some tricky moments in front of a passionate home crowd to secure his 10th Tour level title – and his fourth of 2023 – with a 6-4 3-6 6-3 success in two hours and 26 minutes.

The result sees the 20-year-old join Rafael Nadal as one of only two players to triumph back-to-back in Madrid, while he also becomes the youngest player since the 22-Grand Slam champion to defend an ATP Masters 1000 title.

Indeed, the growing talk of Alcaraz now being a red-hot favourite to go on and claim a maiden French Open crown is highly conceivable given Nadal’s continued injury travails and the fact the Murcia-born starlet is now 19-1 on clay and 29-2 overall for the year so far.

The Manolo Santana Stadium was once again packed out with Spaniards eager to see Alcaraz lift another trophy on home turf and expectation was soaring given that the top seed was facing a player who initially failed to even make it through qualifying.

The 33-year-old Struff was edged out by Aslan Karatsev for a spot in the main draw but was handed a reprieve as a Lucky Loser and has not looked back. The German upset Stefanos Tsitsipas in the last eight and then avenged that qualifying defeat by beating Karatsev in an unlikely semi-final showdown.

He was featuring in just his second ever tour-level final as the first Lucky Loser to ever reach this stage of a Masters 1000 tournament, and it showed as he made a very nervy start.

A pair of double faults and a backhand error saw Struff cough up two instant break points before a backhand volley on the stretch landed out to give the all-Spanish crowd the lift-off they had wanted.

However, Alcaraz also took time to settle and made hard work of consolidating, fending off a break back point from deuce before finally finding a first serve to hammer home the early advantage.

To his great credit, Struff responded to the adversity in a Davis Cup-style atmosphere with the type of powerhouse tennis that has been the key to his fairytale journey in Madrid, with big first serves and some dipping, sharp returns right at the feet of his opponent. After a solid hold to boost his morale, he drew level by breaking to love to offer the suggestion he could yet make life very difficult for the Spaniard.

The world No. 65, who was bidding to become the oldest first-time Masters 1000 winner and first Lucky Loser to triumph at this level since the inauguration of the series in 1990, proved to be a poor front-runner though, as he suddenly imploded at 3-3 and 40-15 on his own serve, unravelling through a mix of two double faults and some brilliant returns from Alcaraz.

The top seed made sure to take advantage on this occasion, fending off three break back points with a sublime lob proving to be the key moment as he served out the opener in 53 minutes.

Struff, who was already guaranteed to rise to a career-high of at least No. 28 in the rankings on Monday regardless of the result, refused to accept the script being written and it was the unseeded German who took the second set by the scruff of the neck, breaking with more blistering returns to Alcaraz’s feet to race into a 3-0 lead.

The World No. 2 looked to respond in what felt like a hugely significant fifth game of the set, but Struff saved five break points to somehow stay in the driving seat and ease 4-1 up. Suddenly Alcaraz’s bid to make it 21 wins in a row on Spanish clay looked in real jeopardy and the German’s power was once again the decisive factor as he held firm to force the decider, clinching the set with a deft drop volley at the net.

Alcaraz was struggling to handle the expectation of the crowd at this point and Struff’s tactic to hit big and close the net continued to cause an opponent 13 years his junior plenty of issues.

Once again the German pressed for an early break but this time the reigning champion dug deep to swat away the danger and maintain the scoreboard advantage.

The top seed was still in need of some inspiration, however, but like a true champion he duly produced it as he conjured up a moment of magic with a sublime drop shot that helped him break before a timely love hold saw the 20-year-old consolidate for a 4-1 lead.

Struff prolonged the contest by fending off two more opportunities for a double break but Alcaraz stood tall on serve to close out the Championship to add the Madrid crown to the titles he has already lifted in Buenos Aires, Indian Wells and Barcelona earlier in the year.

– – –