Carlos Alcaraz Triumphs in His Final Match As a Teenager

| by Sebastian Dahlman

Carlos Alcaraz recorded a win in his last match as a teenager on the ATP Tour as he defeated Karen Khachanov at the 2023 Madrid Open.

It will be a birthday match for the Spaniard when he steps onto the court at La Caja Magica the next time. It's becoming a nice tradition for Alcaraz to celebrate his birthday in Madrid, and this year will be another edition of him playing on his birthday.

This time, he will be turning 20 and forgetting his teen years, but to secure that match, the 19-year-old had to battle against in-form Karen Khachanov, who defeated the latest ATP Masters 1000 champion Andrey Rublev in the previous round.

It was a patient start for both as fans at the Manolo Santana Stadium didn't see any break points until the seventh game of the first set. But then, they saw at least one in every of the following three games, but only one was used.

And it was their favourite Alcaraz who used one of his three chances in the seventh game to go into the lead for the first time in the match and after confirming it with two holds, he won the first set 6-4.

But Khachanov increased the intensity in the second set and this time he was the one leading by one break. The Russian was up 4-1 and he even had two more chances to go into a two-break lead.

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Yet, Alcaraz fought for the second set and he fought really hard. The teenage superstar saved two break points and used both of his following two chances to break to win the match 6-4, 7-5 to advance to the semifinals of the 2023 Madrid Open.

Among the last four in the Spanish capital, he will await one of the surprises of the event as the 17th-seeded Borna Coric from Croatia will clash with Daniel Altmaier from Germany. After the match, Alcaraz was really happy and he showed it also in the interview as he admitted that it was a really difficult match for him.

"It was really tough. The first set as well, it was close. I was in trouble in the second set, break down and he had like two or three break points to have the second break in the second set, so it was really tough for me to come back."

Alcaraz, who has a cafeteria of shots at his disposal on the menu on clay according to renowned coach Rick Macci, talked exactly about that after the match, saying that he needs to remind himself to stay patient and not to rush points.

"A lot of times I talk myself a lot during the match, telling myself that I have to be patient, not to be in a rush in a point. But a lot of things come to my mind and sometimes it's tough to choose one."

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