ATP

Titles in their sights as Alcaraz and Rune get set to leave teenage years behind

By Sports Desk April 22, 2023

Carlos Alcaraz raced through to the Barcelona Open final as the defending champion set up a final showdown with Stefanos Tsitsipas.

With his 20th birthday approaching on May 5, world number two Alcaraz will have the chance on Sunday to land his ninth ATP title as a teenager.

Alcaraz crushed the hopes of first-time Barcelona semi-finalist Dan Evans, racing to a 6-2 6-2 victory over a player who was seeking to become the first British finalist at this tournament.

Earlier, Tsitsipas, who had not dropped serve en route to the semi-finals, had to dig deep for a 6-4 5-7 6-3 victory against Lorenzo Musetti, the Italian who beat Novak Djokovic in Monte Carlo last week.

Greek star Tsitsipas bizarrely has a 0-9 record in finals at ATP 500 level, the tier at which this tournament sits, despite having won two of his six title matches in elite ATP 1000 events.

Alcaraz will start as a firm favourite in the final. He holds a 3-0 career head-to-head lead over Tsitsipas from their past meetings, including a three-set win in the Barcelona quarter-finals last year.

That was a stormy encounter, with Alcaraz taking exception to almost being hit by a shot from Tsitsipas at the end of the opening set, so the rematch could be one to savour.

"It's so special to play a final here in Barcelona, a tournament I love playing," Alcaraz said on Prime Video. "I came to watch this tournament when I was very, very young, and I played for this club when I was 12, 11. I love this club, I love this tournament, and it's so special to have the chance to lift the trophy here again.

"Last year [against Tsitsipas] we had a spicy match, but I know he's a really nice guy off the court."

At the BMW Open in Munich, it was much the same story on Saturday.

Defending champion Holger Rune, another 19-year-old with a birthday approaching, in his case on April 29, earned another shot at the title.

Rune set up a Sunday showdown against Botic van de Zandschulp, in what will be a repeat of last year's final.

A resilient Rune lived up to his top seeding by ending Christopher O'Connell's fine run, which included a win against Alexander Zverev at the last-16 stage.

The 6-3 6-2 outcome masked the fact Rune saved eight break points as unseeded world number 82 O'Connell threatened to make it a tighter contest on the scoreboard than it turned out to be.

Van de Zandschulp then scored a fine win in the second semi-final as the Dutch fourth seed got the better of American second seed Taylor Fritz, winning 6-4 7-6 (7-2) 

Last year's trophy match ended in disappointment when Van de Zandschulp retired due to chest pains during the first set, with Rune saying it was "probably the worst way to win a final".

Rune has three ATP titles to his name, with 27-year-old Van de Zandschulp yet to lift a singles trophy.

Related items

  • Sinner avoids O'Connell upset at US Open Sinner avoids O'Connell upset at US Open

    Jannik Sinner beat Australia's Christopher O'Connell in straight sets to reach the fourth round of the US Open on Saturday, avoiding a similar fate to Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic.

    The men's draw at Flushing Meadows has been blown wide open by early exits for Alcaraz and Djokovic, but the top seed remains in the hunt after a composed performance.

    He reached the fourth round for a fourth consecutive year with a routine 6-1 6-4 6-2 victory, setting the tone with several huge groundstrokes in the opening set.

    O'Connell never looked likely to fight back as Sinner smashed 46 winners in a ruthless performance, wrapping up his win in one hour and 56 minutes.

    The Australian Open champion will face either Tommy Paul or Gabriel Diallo for a place in the last eight, and he was relieved to survive an opening week full of surprises.

    "Everything can happen in this sport, so I try to stay on my side of the net and I'm trying to take the tournament day by day," Sinner said in his on-court interview after the win. 

    "Each opponent is a very tough challenge and [I am] also enjoying every moment on the court. There have been already a couple of upsets, so let's see what's coming.

    "But I'm very happy to still be here and hopefully I can play as many matches as possible. But as I said, we go day by day and then we'll see how it goes."

    Data Debrief: Sinner heating up

    Sinner lost his first set of the tournament to Mackenzie McDonald but has been largely untouchable since then.

    He has only lost 18 games across his last nine sets of tennis, an average of two per set.

    The Italian's winning streak now stands at seven straight matches, meanwhile, following his triumphant Cincinnati Open run.

  • Bayer Leverkusen 2-3 Leipzig: Visitors fightback halts unbeaten streak for Alonso's side Bayer Leverkusen 2-3 Leipzig: Visitors fightback halts unbeaten streak for Alonso's side

    Bayer Leverkusen suffered their first defeat in 36 Bundesliga matches, as Leipzig came from behind to stun Xabi Alonso's side 3-2 at BayArena.

    Lois Openda struck twice for Marco Rose's, who recovered from 2-0 down to make it two wins from two and move to the summit of the table.

    It looked like business as usual for the reigning Bundesliga champions when they scored twice in the last seven minutes of the first half through Jeremie Frimpong and Alejandro Grimaldo.

    However, Leipzig replied deep into first-half stoppage time with Kevin Kampl reducing the deficit.

    Openda then brought the visitors level in the 57th minute, before a stunning long-range strike completed the turnaround 10 minutes from time, condemning Leverkusen to their first league defeat in 15 months. 

    Data Debrief: Leverkusen's long streak comes to a shuddering halt

    Leipzig became the first side to beat Leverkusen in a Bundesliga match since Bochum achieved the feat a staggering 462 days earlier.  

    The visitors have begun a Bundesliga season with two wins from two for only the second time, also doing so in 2019-20.

    They are also now unbeaten in 13 league matches, their longest such streak since Rose took charge.

    As for Leverkusen, their invincible streak is officially history, as is their 29-game unbeaten run on home soil.

  • 'We really let ourselves down' - Coleman slams Everton after late Bournemouth collapse 'We really let ourselves down' - Coleman slams Everton after late Bournemouth collapse

    Seamus Coleman acknowledged Everton "really let ourselves down" and must "look at ourselves in the mirror" following their spectacular late collapse against Bournemouth.

    Sean Dyche's side, who were seeking their first points of the season, led 2-0 in the 87th minute at Goodison Park through goals from Michael Keane and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

    However, the hosts were undone by three crosses in the latter stages, with Antoine Semenyo pulling a goal back and Lewis Cook levelling, before Luis Sinisterra completed a sensational turnaround in the sixth minute of stoppage time. 

    Boos rung around Goodison Park as the Toffees remained pointless and rooted to the foot of the Premier League table, and Coleman echoed the supporters' frustrations.

    "We really let ourselves down in front of our fans," the skipper said. "We cannot take our foot off the gas at this level. Unfortunately, we did that.

    "We cannot be conceding the goals that we did. We have to look at ourselves in the mirror."

    Meanwhile, Dyche bemoaned the lack of responsibility amongst his players, as they became the first side in Premier League history to lose a game after leading by two or more goals in the 87th minute.

    "We did so much right until they scored their first goal," the Everton head coach said. "The game should have been out of sight. We conceded one and then threw it away. I can't put my finger on it right now.

    "They kept raining it forward and got their reward in the end. They were playing it forward and crossing it into the box, and we didn't deal with it. Simple stuff, but we threw it away. It is the third game we have thrown away this season.

    "Everyone was looking at someone else to deal with things and that is when there is trouble. You could see the body language change. You have to see games through, and we have enough experience to do that, but today we didn't."

    Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola added: "It was the worst game we played this season. Everton deserved to win today, but the players kept pushing.

    "I always have hope because this team has spirit. We have done it before and had some good comebacks. The spark of the first goal made us believe we could do it again."

© 2024 SportsMaxTV All Rights Reserved.