If there is one place where Carlos Alcaraz is almost unbeatable, it's Spain, as he continues proving at the 2023 Madrid Open.
Last year, the teenager started a streak that lasts until today when he won the first-round match at the 2022 Barcelona Open. He then went on to win the tournament, which was followed by the Madrid Open triumph.
This year, Alcaraz started his campaign in Spain with a successful title defence in Barcelona, and now, he has another title to defend, this time at the 2023 Madrid Open. In the second round, he outplayed Emil Ruusuvuori, in a match that seemed to be lost, and in the third round, he took on the 26th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov.
The two met once before, and it was last year at the Paris Masters when the Bulgarian experienced how it feels to play against a player that is probably the future star of the sport. Then, Alcaraz won comfortably in two sets, and he wanted to repeat the same result also at La Caja Magica.
He started well on a quest to win easily again, as he broke Dimitrov's first serve and by the third game it could have been already 3-0. But the Bulgarian saved two break points on his second service games, but he couldn't follow up on that in the remainder of the first set.
Alcaraz broke again in the seventh game and after only 35 minutes, he won the first set 6-2, firing nine winners and missing only three times. But in the second set, Dimitrov played much better and for a moment it seemed that he will be able to take the set.
He broke first and led 4-2, but confirming the break with a hold is sometimes the most difficult thing and also the 31-year-old felt the pressure. Alcaraz broke back and after adding one more break in the eleventh game, the Spaniard was able to win the match 6-2, 7-5 to set up last year's final rematch in the quarterfinals.
The teenager will meet the 13th-seeded Alexander Zverev, who called the court at La Caja Magica as his favourite in the world, and proved it by beating Hugo Grenier early on Sunday, losing only one game in that match.
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