On the very first day of his 20s, Carlos Alcaraz continued to tread his own remarkable path at the top of his sport as he produced another dominant display, comfortably defeating Borna Coric 6-4, 6-3 to return to the Madrid Open final.
While Alcaraz, on his 20th birthday, positioned himself as one of the biggest contenders at the French Open, Rafael Nadal’s presence in Paris was cast into even greater doubt when he announced his withdrawal from the Italian Open on Friday due to the hip injury he suffered in January. Rome is the final Masters 1000 event before the French Open and, if Nadal decides to compete at Roland Garros, the 14-time champion would do so without any preparation.
Since a three-month injury layoff ruled him out of last year’s ATP Finals and the Australian Open this year, Alcaraz has compiled an incredible 28-2 (93%) record with three titles won already this year. On Sunday Alcaraz will be heavily favoured to secure his 10th title overall and fourth Masters 1000 title against either the qualifier Aslan Karatsev or lucky loser Jan-Lennard Struff.
In the absence of Nadal and Novak Djokovic, the gulf between Alcaraz and the rest of his rivals has never appeared so vast. While Alcaraz struggled in his opening match against Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland, trailing by a set and then facing numerous break points, he has thrived since his escape. Alcaraz has since faced four consecutive seeded players and prominent names in Grigor Dimitrov, Alexander Zverev, Karen Khachanov and Coric, and he is yet to concede another set.
Despite the straightforward scoreline, Coric forced Alcaraz to work hard in the early stages of their encounter. After 30 minutes the score remained 2-2 as Coric managed to continuously draw Alcaraz into physical, lengthy rallies. But the parity was short-lived. As soon as Alcaraz settled down, he comfortably hit through Coric’s defences with his enormous weapons and vast arsenal of shots.
Two days after announcing that she would be unable to compete at the French Open and Wimbledon, Emma Raducanu underwent the second of three planned surgeries, following up Wednesday’s right-hand surgery by undergoing ankle surgery. Raducanu briefly appeared in an Instagram Live video from her hospital bed shortly after the surgery, informing fans that she would undergo her third and final surgery, on her left hand, in two weeks.
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On Saturday Iga Swiatek, the world No 1, and the No 2, Aryna Sabalenka, will resume their blossoming rivalry as they meet in the women’s final two weeks after Swiatek defeated Sabalenka in straight sets to win in Stuttgart. It has been 23 years since the WTA’s top two battled each other in consecutive tournament weeks, when Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport faced each other in Indian Wells and Miami.