Madrid, May 8
After defeating his idol Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals on Friday, 19-year-old Carlos Alcaraz rallied to beat top-ranked Djokovic 6-7 (5), 7-5, 7-6 (5) after more than 3 1/2 hours on Saturday to reach the Madrid Open final.
“It was one of those matches to enjoy,” Alcaraz said.
“Despite the tension, despite being the semifinals, being 7-6 in the third-set tiebreaker … I’ve enjoyed it. Until the last point I was being able to smile.”
In the women’s final, Ons Jabeur of Tunisia won her biggest career title by defeating Jessica Pegula of the US in three sets. Jabeur, the first Arab woman in the top 10, won 7-5, 0-6, 6-3 for her second career title. “When I had the match point, I was like, I had to win it from the beginning, otherwise it’s going to be very tough for me,” Jabeur said.
“But I’m very happy and trying to realize that I won today, really.” Pegula, a one-time tour winner, will reach a career-high No. 11 ranking on Monday.
Alcaraz became the first player to beat Nadal and Djokovic at the same clay-court event. He converted his third match point in front of a raucous home crowd on the Caja Mágica center court.
“It’s a spectacular feeling right now,” Alcaraz said. “I’m very excited to be able to play these kind of matches, to be able to beat Rafa yesterday, to be able to beat the No. 1 today.” A win on Sunday will give Alcaraz his fourth title this season, the most of any player.
He will face defending champion Alexander Zverev, who defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. The second-seeded German player converted three of his five break opportunities to clinch the victory in nearly two hours. Zverev is now 19-2 in Madrid, where he also won the title in 2018.
“This is my favorite court in the world,” Zverev said. “I know 99.999% percent of the people will be against me tomorrow but this is completely fine,” he said with a smile.
Alcaraz, the youngest player in the top 10 since Nadal in 2005, has won this year in Miami, Rio de Janeiro and Barcelona. Djokovic remains without a title this season as he continues to try to regain his best form going into his title defense at the French Open this month. “Congrats to him. He held his nerves very well,” Djokovic said.