Carlos Alcaraz has reconfirmed his status as champion of the Madrid Open 2023 by defeating the German’s Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4, 3-6 and 6-3 in two hours and 25 minutes. The world number two could now regain the top spot in the ATP ranking, just by setting foot in the Foro Italico and playing a match at the Masters 1000 in Rome.

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Alcaraz won the Madrid Open 2023 draw and chose to subtract. Struff served and started gripped by nerves, with two double faults that weighed down his first game to end up giving up the ‘break’. Of his famous ‘three C’s, the one with the head showed that he had it in the final before it started. The German born in Warstein tried to react to the next game, in which he saved several advantages from Alcaraz and had a breaking ball. Carlos consolidated the initial advantage, but those two games summed up the history of previous duels between the two.

It did not go to the second, but it did go to the fourth game when Struff took advantage of the aggressiveness of his rest to score the ‘break’ in white, a mental bump in Alcaraz’s game. The Murcian’s perseverance gave him back the advantage on the scoreboard, with some help from Struff and his double faults, in the seventh game. The other two ‘C’ of Alcaraz were needed to close the set in 54 minutes turning around a 0-40. Eventually, in the decisive final set, Alcaraz went up 4-1, winning the set at 6-3 to claim the Madrid Open 2023 title.

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Meanwhile, for Struff, it was just his second-ever final appearance. The 33-year-old is the first ‘lucky loser’ to advance to a Master’s event final. Originally, he bounced in the second round falling to Aslan Karatsev. But injury withdrawals from the main draw granted him a berth to the tournament. En route to the final, Struff faced Karatsev in the semi-final and bested him to advance.