Carlos Alcaraz Defends Barcelona Title After Beating Stefanos Tsitsipas
ATP
Carlos Alcaraz became the champion of the 2023 Barcelona Open after defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final.
In 2023, Torneo Godó at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona, as the ATP 500 event in Barcelona is also called, was played for the 70th time, marking a beautiful anniversary of the tournament. However, the champion stayed the same as during its 69th edition as Carlos Alcaraz reigned supreme again.
This time, his journey to the final was marked with dominance, as he won all of the matches without dropping a set, and the final was no different. Tsitsipas was coming from a three-set match against Musetti, which was overshadowed by a bad call from the umpire which cost the Greek a crucial point, but nothing like that happened in the final at the Pista Rafa Nadal.
The Greek started well, breaking Alcaraz already in the third game of the first set, but the Spaniard quickly found a response and after adding another break, it was his opponent's time for response. But Tsitsipas didn't have any and the teenager won the first set 6-3.
Throughout the final match, both players were really good on their serve, but a few weaker moments from Tsitsipas proved to be decisive. The Spaniard broke again in the fifth game of the second set, and also thanks to hitting 26 winners and only seven unforced errors in the match, he maintained his advantage.
After an hour and 20 minutes, Alcaraz won the match 6-3, 6-4 to lift the 2023 Barcelona Open title at a court that is named after his big idol and someone that he will be compared with for a big part of his career.
He added his name to another two ATP champions that were crowned today after Holger Rune won in Munich and Dusan Lajovic stunned Andrey Rublev in Banja Luka. Now, the Spaniard can enjoy the iconic pool jump which he experienced for the first time last year.
