Alcaraz defeats Struff to reach the quarterfinals of the Mutua Madrid Open
Carlos Alcaraztwo-time title defender in Madrid, was on the verge of elimination in the match with the German Jan-Lennard Struffwhich he finally won 6-3, 6-7 and 7-6 in a game full mistakes and genius both.
Champion and finalist 2023 They met again a year later after the Spaniard won the title match (6-4, 3-6 and 6-3) and runner-up Alcaraz repeated his victory in three sets but with two tiebreakers, after almost three hours of play.
His opponent in the quarterfinals will be a Russian. Andrey Rublevseventh favorite to beat the Dutchman in the round of 16 Tallon Grickspur the score is 6-2 and 6-4.
Alcaraz won the game several times and lost its lead several times. He played unsuccessfully in the tiebreaker in the second set and he lost four match points in the third. But his great class came to the rescue, although it took some time.
The year since the 2023 final hasn’t given the two-time title holder time to forget what an inconvenient opponent the German is. Struff showed it right away when he forced Alcaraz to come back from 15-40 down to win the third game. Boldly climbs to the net from the first moment to reduce the number of points. But The Spaniard found a way to get around him and force him to rethink his strategy.
The first break came in the sixth game, and yet Alcaraz’s next two services proved challenging.. Struff dodged two set points before giving up the set.
Great first game after the others He gave Alcaraz the lead in the second round. Struff, who won in Munich two weeks ago, was embroiled in dizzying exchanges that almost always ended with El Palmar’s man in the corner. Two games in a row from Struff, who took advantage of the slightest crack in Alcaraz’s tennis, leveled the set again.
With the score 4-4, Alcaraz lost the game four mistakes in a row. He couldn’t sink his next serve and was on the verge of breaking (30-30), with some unnecessary fall, but he made up for it with his serve and the set headed to a tiebreaker.
The German served furiously and once again created a spectacle in front of goal (6-3). a portion Struff sang on the street, and that Hawkeye had agreed to finally deliver the set to the 2023 finalist.
Alcaraz, who returned to the game with his right arm protected by a sleeve, saw it was time to spare no effort on his right arm. Knowing about the mistakes made in the previous part, he adjusted, but did not eliminate the risks. profiled shots and tried to keep Struff away from the goal.
The “break” happened with the score 3:1, and the danger appeared again. breaking ball at 4:2 and appeared again when Alcaraz served to win, in a game that cannot be forgotten: the Spaniards he wasted four match points. A double fault, several right hands, a bad shot… Alcaraz’s mistakes happened at the most inopportune moment.
The Spaniard’s victory became a reality in a new tiebreak with the same dance of mistakes. From 3-0 in Alcaraz the score became 4-3 in Struff. So I reached the German, who was very close to victory. But at the last moment Alcaraz accompanied his tennis..
With his new victory, he repeated Rafael Nadal’s record of 14 games in a row in Madrid.