Madrid Open: Carlos Alcaraz beats Alexander Zverev in straight sets to claim fourth title of the year

Carlos Alcaraz capped another impressive week with a straight-sets victory over Alexander Zverev in the final of the Madrid Open. 

After victories over his idol Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals and top-ranked Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals, the Spanish teenage sensation comfortably defeated world No 3 Zverev 6-3, 6-1.

Alcaraz, who won his first Masters 1000 title in Miami last month, made the first move as he broke Zverev to love for a 4-2 lead before comfortably closing out the set on his own serve.

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The home favourite broke to love again for a 2-1 lead in the second set as Zverev began to grow frustrated, failing to find ways to stop Alcaraz. Cheered on by the home fans, the sublime Alcaraz found the double break at 4-1 and won the next two games to wrap up the match in just about an hour.

The Spaniard got the crowd at the Manolo Santana Stadium on their feet with his variety of shots and relentless hitting as he earned a seventh straight top-10 win and tour-leading fourth title of the year.

"Right now you are the best player in the world," Zverev said about Alcaraz during the trophy ceremony. "It is great for tennis that we have such a new superstar that is going to win so many Grand Slams, that is going to be World No 1 and I think is going to win this tournament many more times."

Victory sees Alcaraz become the second-youngest player in history to register two Masters 1000 titles. He also has the most wins this season with 28, one more than Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Ranked 120th in the world just a year ago, Alcaraz will rise to a career-high No 6 in the new rankings on Monday.

Zverev was trying to win his second consecutive Madrid title and third overall, having followed his 2018 victory by defeating Matteo Berrettini in last year's final.

Zverev criticises ATP Tour over late-night matches

Though he was full of praise for his opponent, Zverev criticised the ATP Tour for its scheduling of late-night matches and said he was at a disadvantage in Sunday's final.

He conceded that he probably would have lost to Alcaraz even if he was fresh, but said it would have been a better final if he hadn't had to go to bed after 4am local time on the previous nights.

"The ATP's job was an absolute disgrace this week," Zverev said. "To play a final against Carlos Alcaraz, who for me is the best player in the world right now, in a Masters 1000 event... it is difficult. I had no co-ordination today. I had no co-ordination on my serve, I had no co-ordination on my groundstrokes. I missed two overheads that were super easy because I see the ball and everything is moving in my eyes.

"I was a little bit late all of the time. My first step was not so quick. If you are playing the best players in the world, you have to be at your top. Otherwise you will have no chance. Today I had no chance."

Zverev started Saturday's semi-final match against Stefanos Tsitsipas at around 11pm local time and the three-set match ended after 1am. He returned to the Caja Magica centre court after the match to practice his service, then had to work with his physios and eat before getting back to the hotel.

"I think all of us have stayed up late, all of us maybe partied sometimes, but if you are staying up until 4am, the next day you are dead," he said. "I played the next day. If you're doing it again, the next day until 5am, you will have a difficult time to be even awake.

"I don't want to take anything away (from Carlos)," Zverev said. I feel sad for the final that we played, because this could have been a very good match. This could have been a great match.

"It takes away the sport of tennis. Everybody wanted to see a great fight. Everybody wanted to see some high-level tennis. But I'm also human. I'm not a robot. I can't. I simply I cannot be on my level when this is happening every single night."

Zverev also had to play late in Acapulco earlier this year.

"The chances are being taken away from me," he said. "At the end of the day, everybody forgets about those things. Nobody talks about it, you know. Everybody says, 'Yeah, it was a bad match, I made double faults, I didnt play well and all of that'.

"But look at what is happening the days before. Look at what is actually happening behind the scenes, as well. It's not quite fair, I think."

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