The 18-year-old Carlos Alcaraz beats Casper Ruud 7-5, 6-4 to win the Miami Open, his first career Masters 1000. Alcaraz had the best season so far winning 12 out of 14 matches played. After a third-round exit in the 2022 Australian Open, the youngster won Rio and gave a tough fight to fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal in the Indian Wells Semifinal.
These exceptional performances pushed the Spaniard to achieve a career-high ranking of no.16. After winning two titles ? 2021 ATP Next Gen Finals and Rio Open 2022, he had a golden opportunity to win? the first Masters 1000 title. By defeating Ruud in the championship match, he broke the 14-year-old record of Novak Djokovic as the youngest player to clinch an ATP 1000 crown.
With the emphatic two-set win over Rudd, Carlos Alcaraz’s ranking got a huge boost and he is now just 29 points away from breaking into top-10.
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Alcaraz is now 2nd in the ATP Race to Turin behind Nadal and he is also 29 points away from the ATP Top 10.
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) April 3, 2022
Alcaraz’s road to the final in Miami
18-year-old Carlos Alcaraz defeated two top-10 players on his route to the final. The Spaniard registered straight sets victories against Stefanos Tsitsipas and defending champion Hubert Hurkacz.
Carlos’ run in Miami Open is commendable given the fact that his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero was absent as his father passed away. But after the semi-final win, Ferrero surprised Alcaraz by traveling back from hometown to Miami and it certainly lifted Alcaraz’s spirits.
Carlos Alcaraz in May 2021: wins the Oeiras Open Challenger 125 to crack the ATP top 100
Carlos Alcaraz in April 2022: wins the Miami Open to become the third-youngest ATP Masters 1000 champion and climb to No. 11 in the ranking pic.twitter.com/8bUYM4dVsm
— Gaspar Ribeiro Lança (@gasparlanca) April 3, 2022
Exhilarating Final between Casper Rudd and Carlos Alcaraz
The match was already hyped up as both youngsters were playing their first-ever Masters 1000 final and were also in great form till date.
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Alcaraz broke Rudd in the 11th game of the first set and held his serve immediately to win it, 7-5. He continued his dominance and broke the very first service game of Rudd in the second set to take a 3-0 lead. But, the Norwegian fought back to break Carlos’ serve.
👑 HIS TIME IS NOW 👑
18-year-old @alcarazcarlos03 wins a FIRST MASTERS 1000 TITLE, defeating Ruud 7-5 6-4 to become the youngest male champion in #MiamiOpen HISTORY! pic.twitter.com/GfXf39XGOc
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) April 3, 2022
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However, the young Spaniard showed great character winning the next game to put pressure back on sixth seed Casper Rudd. Both managed to hold their serves till the final games of the second set. Carlos Alcaraz was leading 5-4 and serving for the match. He kept his composure and closed out his service game comfortably to win the match, 7-5, 6-4.
