Alcaraz repeated Nadal’s achievement: won the Barcelona tournament at 18 and entered the ATP Top Ten
Seventeen years ago, Rafael Nadal, also exactly April 24 won the title in Barcelona and yesterday his compatriot Carlos Alcaraz, also at the age of eighteen won his first title in the Catalan capital.
And today in the updated ATP rankings, Alcaraz debuts in ninth place at 18 years and 11 months, Nadal entered the top 10 in 2005 at 18 years and 10 months.
This is Carlos’ third title of the season, having previously won a tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the Masters in Miami. In the Barcelona final, he also defeated Spaniard Pablo Carreño-Busta 6-3, 6-2. Video: Highlights of the final.
Video review of Rublev’s victory over Djokovic in the Belgrade finals
In the final match of the tournament in Belgrade, Novak Djokovic and Andrey Rublev met on the court. The Serb played his second competition on the mainland and is still far from his best game. Novak was one step away from elimination in every match at his home tournament.
The first game started with an exploration, both players were winning their games and no one had the initiative. At 2:2 Rublev broke and seized the initiative. The Serb lost the set almost uncontested.
In the second set Djokovic looked more convincing, he found a balance in his serve, made fewer mistakes and reached the tie-break. The Serb finally got his breakthrough on the eighth set and leveled the score.
The third set started with Djokovic giving up break points on serve. After this, Novak immediately lost his serve and dropped his hands. Novak didn’t have the strength to continue the fight.
Andrei Rublev won in three sets, 6-2, 6-7 and 6-0. The match lasted 2 hours and 29 minutes.
Highlights of the match