Two-time champion Carlos Alcaraz has shrugged off injury concerns with a straight-sets win at the Madrid Open on Sunday.
The world No.3 breezed past Brazil’s Thiago Seyboth Wild 6-3, 6-3, to record his 13th consecutive win at the Masters 1000 event. Alcaraz clinched his latest victory by breaking Wild four times and hitting 20 winners against 18 unforced errors. The only blip he encountered was towards the closing stages with the Spaniard getting broken when serving the match out on his first attempt before he prevailed on his second. He has now won 35 out of 37 matches against players ranked outside the top 50 since the start of 2023.
It is the second match in a row that the Spaniard has won in straight sets after he beat Alexander Shevchenko on Friday. Those victories followed what has been a troublesome past couple of weeks for Alcaraz who was forced to skip two events due to a forearm injury.
“I think I played at a really good level,” Alcaraz said afterwards.
“Coming into this match I was nervous a little bit because I didn’t know how my forearm was going to be. Thiago has big serves and hits the ball really strong. But I’m really happy with my performance.
“It has been a long time since I felt this kind of nerves. I’m really happy to do it at the end (get the win) and get a chance in the next round.”
Awaiting the home favourite next will be a showdown against Germany’s Jan Lennard-Struff in what will be a repeat of last year’s final. On that occasion, he required three sets to beat the German who knocked out 13th seed Ugo Humbert earlier in the day.
“Hopefully the result will be like the final last year,” he joked.
“I know his level and his game. I have to play at my best if I want to beat him. He has big shots and a big serve. I have to focus on the return. Putting as many balls as I can to be in the rally. it’s going to be a difficult one.”
Alcaraz is bidding to become the first player in history to win Madrid for a third consecutive year. He has now won 23 straight Tour-level matches on Spanish clay since 2022.
