ATP Masters Madrid: Alcaraz and Rune continue to knit their legend
Defending champions Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune entered the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Madrid with remarkable victories.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Apr 29, 2023, 08:13 am
So it's 9:9 in the tie-break of the third set between Alexander Bublik and Holger Rune. Up to this point, Bublik has fended off four match points, one of which he was unable to use. What is the fantastic Kazakh doing? He slams two serves towards Rune: the first goes just wide, the second into the net. Rune now takes extra time, receives a warning, and in turn hits the first serve in the net. And served with an ace with the second out. To quote the former Austrian boxer Hans Orsolics: "Wow, just that."
That's what happened at the Arantxa Sanchez stadium, a few hours earlier Carlos Alcaraz also had to fend off match points against Emil Ruusuvuori. No, you will not find this in the game report sheet. But with the set back and a 15:40 at 2:3 in the second round, defending champion Alcaraz felt like he couldn't give up this game anymore. Ruusuvuori was supposed to get five chances - he didn't take them.
And so Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune continue to knit their own legend.
sky madrid
Ruud, Musetti, Korda fail
Also because the matches on Friday went so differently. Holger Rune had easily won the first set against Alexander Bublik, then became a bit lax and almost lost the game. For Carlos Alcaraz, nothing really went smoothly against Emil Ruusuvuori until that sixth game in the third set.
However, the first seeded games have shown one thing clearly: a bye in round one from Madrid does not have to be an advantage. Ask Lorenzo Musetti, who couldn't win against Yannick Hanfmann. Or with Casper Ruud, who was defeated by the qualifier and thus Madrid-proven Mateo Arnaldi. Hubert Hurkacz also had to stretch himself to the extreme against Richard Gasquet. Sebastian Korda has to be taken out of this calculation - the American played his first match against Hugo Grenier after giving up at the Australian Open.
The youngsters Alcaraz and Rune can continue. The Spaniard against Grigor Dimitrov, Rune against Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina. At least in the latter game there is potential for further legend building. By the way, Holger Rune is no longer a teenager: he is celebrating his 20th birthday today.
Here is the individual tableau in Madrid
madrid map