Madrid Masters: Alcaraz defeats Dimitrov, will face Zverev in last 16!
Carlos Alcaraz won against Grigor Dimitrov 6-2, 7-5 on Sunday evening and will face German Alexander Zverev, the No 13 seed, in the next round
Carlos Alcaraz in Madrid (AI/Reuters/Panoramic)
Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz is still en route to keep his title in Madrid. The top seed, reached the last 16 of the Madrid Masters by defeating Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the No 26 seed, 6-2, 7-5 at the Caja Magica on Sunday.
That is Alcaraz’s 17th match win in a row in Spanish ATP tournaments, extending back to last year, and it takes his record this season on clay to 15-1. Alcaraz won at Barcelona and Madrid in 2022, then kept his title in Barcelona last week.
The list of his wins on the Spanish soil since 2023 is impressive : Kwon, Munar, Tsitsipas, de Minaur, Carreño Busta, Basilashvili, Norrie, Nadal, Djokovic, Borges, Bautista Agut, Davidovich Fokina, Evans and Tsitsipas again before this 2023 Madrid event.
Alcaraz – Zverev re-match
Carlos Alcaraz now holds a win-loss record of 34-11 at ATP Masters 1000 level. Among teenagers since the
format was introduced in 1990, only Rafael Nadal (53) has more. Alcaraz won the first Masters 1000 played this season at Indian Wells.
The 19-year-old Spaniard won against Finn Emil Ruusuvuori (2-6, 6-4, 6-2) ahead of his victory. He will face Alexander Zverev in the round of 16.
Alcaraz will be the favourite in this rematch of last year’s Madrid final, won by Alcaraz in straight sets. But Zverev leads their head to head 3-1, including the famous last year’s Roland-Garros quarter-finals.
Dimitrov, ranked No 32, won against Frenchman Gregoire Barrere (7-6 (6), 7-6 (2)). The Bulgrian has now lost his last ten matches against opponents ranked in the ATP’s top five. Dimitrov’s last win against a top-five opponent was in 2021, coming from a set down to defeat Daniil Medvedev at Indian Wells round of 16.
Alcaraz, ranked No 2, will play German Alexander Zverev, the No 13 seed, next.
Madrid Masters, other third-round results (Caja Magica, clay, EUR 7.705.780, most recent results first):
- Sebastian Baez vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas : Monday in Madrid
- Zhizhen Zhang vs. Cameron Norrie: Monday in Madrid
- Taylor Fritz vs. Cristian Garin: Monday in Madrid
- Roman Safiullin vs. Bernabe Zapata Miralles: Monday in Madrid
- Alex De Minaur vs. Aslan Karatsev: Monday in Madrid
- Pedro Cachin vs. Frances Tiafoe: Monday in Madrid
- Dusan Lajovic vs. Jan-Lennard Struff: Monday in Madrid
- Alexander Shevchenko vs. Daniil Medvedev: Monday in Madrid
- Alejandro Davidovich Fokina vs. Holger Rune: Sunday in Madrid
- Daniel Altmaier vs. Yannick Hanfmann: 7-6, 6-3
- Borna Coric (17) beat Hubert Hurkacz (12): 7-6 (3), 6-3
- Alexander Zverev beat Hugo Grenier (Q): 6-1, 6-0
- Andrey Rublev (5) beat Yoshihito Nishioka (28): 6-2, 7-5
- Jaume Munar beat Matteo Arnaldi (Q): 3-6, 6-3, 6-1
- Karen Khachanov (10) beat Roberto Bautista Agut (20): 7-5, 4-6, 6-3
