ATP Madrid: Rafael Nadal doesn't give Carlos Alcaraz a chance
Rafael Nadal had little sympathy for Carlos Alcaraz on his birthday. In two clear sentences, the clay court king bought his round of 16 ticket at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Madrid.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: May 05, 2021, 05:13 pm
It was an early gift that Carlos Alcaraz was to give himself a few hours before his 18th birthday. The Spanish youngster played his way into the second round at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Madrid and thus had the chance to compete against the clay court king of recent years - and by the way his great idol - Rafael Nadal. And that, of all things, on his happy day.
However, Carlos Alcaraz should not have had a big reason to celebrate whether the development of the match against the second in the world rankings. Nadal, who won the ATP 500 event in Barcelona just a few days ago, left little doubt in the first minutes of the Spanish generation duel, broke Alcaraz early and after a little more than half an hour made it 6: 1 to 1: 0.
Nadal remains inviolable
Little changed in this key at the start of the second movement. Carlos Alcaraz was now a bit more competitive, but that did not show up on the scoreboard at first. Again Nadal made an early break and quickly moved away to 3-0. The 18-year-old succeeded in another rebreak, but Nadal was somewhat unimpressed - and finally closed it with 6: 2 in set two.
In the round of the last 16, the winner of the clash between Alexei Popyrin and Jannik Sinner is now waiting for Nadal. Meanwhile, the Mallorcan has an extremely good relationship with the latter, snatching the Italian youngster for the quarantine that had to be served before the Australian Open. In the quarter-finals, Alexander Zverev could wait for the 20-time Grand Slam winner.