Carlos Alcaraz beats lucky loser Jan-Lennard Struff to retain Madrid Open title

Carlos Alcaraz successfully defended his Madrid Open title with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win over lucky loser Jan-Lennard Struff on Sunday, moving closer to recovering his world No. 1 ranking

The 20-year-old Spaniard will be back at the top of the rankings going into the French Open if he plays at least one match at the upcoming Italian Open.

He converted on his first match point after a hard-fought battle against Struff to secure his fourth title of the year and 10th of his impressive young career. He had also successfully defended his title in Barcelona two weeks ago.

It was Alcaraz’s 29th win of the season, and 21st straight in Spain going back to a loss to Rafael Nadal in Madrid on his 18th birthday two years ago.

Alcaraz’s other titles this year came in Buenos Aires and Indian Wells. He is the first player to win two Masters 1000 trophies this season.

The big-serving Struff was the first lucky loser to reach an ATP Masters 1000 final, having earned an unexpected spot in the main draw after another player had to drop out.

The 33-year-old German, ranked 65th in the world, was trying to become just the fourth player and first in more than 20 years to win his first tour-level trophy at a Masters 1000.

Struff had lost in the final round of qualifying to Aslan Karatsev, the player he eventually beat in the semifinals after upsetting fourth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals. The final was his ninth match at the clay-court tournament in Madrid, compared to six for the top-seeded Alcaraz.

Struff beat Alcaraz on clay at the French Open in 2021, while Alcaraz needed five sets to down Struff at Wimbledon last year.