Carlos Alcaraz secured his first grass-court title and top billing at Wimbledon with victory over Alex De Minaur in the final of the cinch Championships.
The 20-year-old Spaniard overtook Novak Djokovic as world number one, and confirmed he will be a major contender to take the Serbian’s crown at SW19 next month, with a commanding 6-4 6-4 win at Queen’s Club.
Alcaraz was playing only his third ever grass-court tournament, and his first outside of two underwhelming visits to Wimbledon.
In his first match he needed a third-set tie-break to get past French journeyman Arthur Rinderknech, but as the week wore on he grew in confidence on the surface and by Sunday looked to the manor born.
Alcaraz will now be top seed at Wimbledon and, on this evidence, has a genuine chance to emulate compatriot Rafael Nadal, who won at Queen’s in 2008 and went on to claim the big one three weeks later.
A break of serve in each set proved enough to overcome Australian number one De Minaur, who competed well but had no answer to the pace and power of the favourite.
For example when De Minaur, 24, created the match’s first break point, at 4-3 in the opener, Alcaraz simply rolled out a 137mph ace.
A high-quality first set swung the way of the top seed when De Minaur sent a backhand wide, and then a forehand long, to gift Alcaraz the break.
The youngster from Murcia wrapped up the 49-minute set with an ace before taking a medical time-out for treatment on his right thigh.
Whatever the issue was, it did not seem to bother Alcaraz too much as he forced another break point at 2-2 in the second – and De Minaur picked the worst possible time to throw in a first double fault.
Victory was confirmed when De Minaur’s return floated long and Alcaraz celebrated an 11th career title, and surely the first of many on the lawns of London.
Alcaraz said: “It means a lot to have my name on the trophy. It was special to play here where so many legends have won. To see my name surrounded by the great champions is amazing.
“I started the tournament not very well, especially my movement on the grass, but it’s been an amazing week.”
De Minaur had been hoping to match his British girlfriend Katie Boulter, who won a first career title in Nottingham last weekend, but he just came up short.
He said: “It’s been a great week for me. We were close but I wasn’t quite able to get it done. Too good from Carlos.”
Rublev claws back to down Auger-Aliassime in Madrid Open final
Andrey Rublev clinched his first Madrid Open title by coming from behind to defeat Felix Auger-Aliassime 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 on Sunday.
The 26-year-old went the distance to earn his second title at this level against Auger-Aliassime, a first-time Masters 1000 finalist.
After losing his serve in the first game of the match, Rublev shook off his early nerves to come back in the second. In a tight third set, Rublev dictated the game with his first serve, using it to drag him to the win.
Rublev came into the Madrid Open on the back of a four-match losing streak but dug deep to get his sixth ATP Tour clay-court title, earning his biggest win of the season after two hours and 47 minutes.
Data Debrief: Rublev closing in on big hitters
Since the start of the 2020 season, only Stefanos Tsitsipas (three) has won more ATP Masters 1000 events on clay than Rublev (two), who is now level with Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz over that span.
Rublev (221) only trails Daniil Medvedev (223) for ATP match wins since the start of the 2020 season, while holding a win percentage of 72% (221-86) over that span.
'It can only get better' - Sabalenka leaving Madrid Open 'with positive thoughts' despite Swiatek defeat
Aryna Sabalenka is encouraged by her run to the Madrid Open final and feels her performance levels "can only get better", despite defeat by Iga Swiatek.
In a repeat of last year's showpiece, the world number two went down 7-5 4-6 7-6 (9-7) in a thrilling encounter with the Pole, who avenged her loss from 12 months ago.
Sabalenka, who saw three championship points go begging, narrowly missed out on becoming only the second woman to win three titles in Madrid after Petra Kvitova.
Nevertheless, the reigning Australian Open champion reached her first final since triumphing in Melbourne, while extending her winning streak in the Spanish capital to 11 matches before defeat to the world number one.
"I really want to see many more finals against [Swiatek]. I want to see more wins than losses," she said. "But I really hope that we'll be able to keep the level or increase the level every year.
"I'm happy with the level I played, with the effort I put into this match and into this week. I'm leaving Madrid with positive thoughts.
"Probably when I broke [Swiatek] in the third set, I should have been more focused on my serve. But at the same time, it's not like I double-faulted; she played great tennis, and she broke me back.
"I think after the Australian Open, I struggled for a couple of months. It's been intense. I'm super happy that, here in Madrid, I was able to bring it all together and be able to get back to my level. It can only get better from now on."
Swiatek was not to be denied a third title of the season - a tally only matched by Elena Rybakina - and she has now won each of her last seven WTA Tour-level finals since losing out to Sabalenka in Madrid last year.
The three-time French Open champion has also now triumphed in every European clay court tournament at WTA 500 level or higher.
"When I look back in maybe a few years, it will mean a lot," the Pole said. "But for now, I'm just happy that I won this tournament anyway. It doesn't matter to me if I won it before or not. I try to win each tournament that I play.
"I think it was more about who was going to be less stressed and who was going to be able to play with more freedom.
"For most of the match, I felt like some decisions [from her] were pretty courageous. I was sometimes a little bit back. So, in the end, I just wanted not to do that and to also be courageous.
"I don't know what made a difference. I think we both deserved to win; I think it was only about those little points in the tiebreaker."
Swiatek topples Sabalenka in thrilling Madrid Open final
Iga Swiatek clinched the Madrid Open title after downing defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in a gruelling final.
In a rematch of last year's final, the top two players in the world did battle in thrilling fashion on Saturday, with Swiatek eventually prevailing 7-5 4-6 7-6 (9-7) after three hours and 14 minutes on court.
It marked Swiatek's first title in Madrid, and the Pole had to do it the hard way, saving three championship points before finally coming out on top in the tie-break, which she sealed with her second championship point when Sabalenka sent a backhand long.
This victory means Swiatek, who has won the French Open on three occasions, has now won every European clay court tournament at WTA 500 level or higher.
It was also Swiatek's seventh victory over Sabalenka, from what was their 10th meeting.
Data Debrief: Clay queen Swiatek rolls on
Swiatek has now won her past seven WTA Tour-level finals, since the defeat to Sabalenka in Madrid last season, while only Elena Rybakina can match her haul of three titles so far in 2024.
This was the longest singles final of the year so far on the WTA Tour, while it was the fourth show-piece match in a WTA 1000 event to be decided by a third set tie-break.
Since the format’s introduction in 2009, only Serena Williams (13) and Victoria Azarenka (10) have more WTA 1000 titles than Swiatek, whose tally of nine equals the efforts of Simona Halep and Petra Kvitova.
Meanwhile, of players to have made at least 10 appearances at clay court tournaments, only Chris Evert, Margaret Court and Steffi Graf have a higher ratio of victories in the Open Era than Swiatek (8/18).
In fact, Swiatek has now claimed a tournament victory in 31 per cent (9/29) of the WTA 1000 main draws she has entered, the highest percentage of any player since the format’s introduction in 2009.
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