Alcaraz dispels doubts with 12th consecutive victory in Madrid

Madrid (Spain) – Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz arrived for the Masters 1000 in Madrid surrounded by doubts, after withdrawing from Monte Carlo and Barcelona with a forearm problem. However, the current number 3 in the world showed firmness in his debut in the tournament and got past Kazakh Alexander Shevchenko, who didn’t do much work and fell with scores of 6/2 and 6/1, in just 68 minutes.

Second highest rated for the title, leading the bottom of the bracket, Alcaraz will now face Thiago Wild from Paraná, who had a great performance earlier in the victory by 2 sets to 0 over the Italian Lorenzo Musettiin a repeat of the 2018 US Open youth final. It will be the first time that the two will face each other on the professional circuit.

Champion of the last two editions of the Madrid tournament, Alcaraz has not lost at Caixa Mágica since 2021, in his debut in the competition, when he was beaten by compatriot Rafael Nadal in the second round. The young tennis player, who will turn 21 on the day of the final, has 12 consecutive victories in the competition and is trying to become the first three consecutive champions in Madrid.

Alcaraz had a very reasonable performance with the serve, winning 63% of the points played, while Shevchenko did very poorly on the ground, with only 36% success. The Kazakh conceded 11 break-points and suffered seven breaks throughout the game. He also had just 2 winners to the Spaniard’s 19, both ending with 14 unforced errors.

Shevchenko starts game with 0 winners

Trying to reach the top 10 for the first time on clay, after losing the previous three matches, Shevchenko had a terrible start to the match and was unable to score a single winning ball in the entire first set, in which she had six unforced errors. On the other hand, Alcaraz recorded eight unforced errors, but recorded 14 winners during the dispute.

In the first game of the match, the Kazakh faced a 0-40, even saved the first break-point, but succumbed in the second. Alcaraz narrowly failed to increase his advantage in the third game, which he ended up doing in the fifth, with another break. Soon after, Shevchenko even returned one of the breaks, but lost serve again in the seventh and lost the partial in the eighth.

Alcaraz’s dominance continues in the 2nd set

The match maintained the same story in the second half, which was again won by the home tennis player without much difficulty. He started opening 3/0 with two consecutive breaks and only didn’t win the first four games because once again he skidded and conceded a break to his Kazakh rival, which thus reduced the loss on the scoreboard.

But Shevchenko continued to play very poorly and was easy prey in the following games, suffering two more breaks, one in the fifth and another in the seventh and final. The Kazakh at least managed to score two winners in the partial, but ended up winning fewer games than in the previous one and said goodbye to Madrid with a devastating defeat.