Alcaraz rides on – Spaniard books spot in Madrid’s last 4 with win over Khachanov

Carlos Alcaraz continues to be a dominant force on home turf. The Spaniard stretched his home soil winning streak to 19 as the defending Madrid Open champ blasted past Russia’s Karen Khachanov, the No 10 seed, 6-4, 7-5 to advance to the last 4 in the Spanish capital on Wednesday afternoon.

Alcaraz, ranked No 2, improves to 27-2 on the season, and 17-1 on clay, with his victory. He will play the winner of the match between German lucky loser Daniel Altmaier and Croat Borna Coric, the No 17 seed, next.

Alcaraz – “I was in trouble in the second set”

It was a competitive tilt against the Russian – Khachanov had two chances to go double break up in the second set (at 4-1) but Alcaraz worked his way out of trouble and won five of the final six games to close out his victory in one hour and 50 minutes.

“It was really tough, the first set as well, it was it was close,” Alcaraz said.

“I was in trouble in the second set, break down and he had like two or three break points to have the second break in the second set, so it was really tough for me to come back. He had his chances to win the second set but obviously I knew that I was going to have my chances. I tried to take the opportunities and I’m really happy to get through.”

Alcaraz reaches his sixth Masters 1000 semi-final, and third of 2023. He will play the semi-finals on his 20th birthday. He compiled a 117-33 record on tour as a teenager, winning nine titles and becoming the youngest and first teen to hold the world No 1 ranking in the history of the ATP Tour.

The 19-year-old Spaniard defeated Finn Emil Ruusuvuori (2-6, 6-4, 6-2), Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the No 26 seed (6-2, 7-5) and German Alexander Zverev, the No 13 seed (6-1, 6-2) ahead of his victory.

Earlier in the tournament, Khachanov, ranked No 12, won against Brazilian Thiago Monteiro (6-3, 3-6, 6-3), Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, the No 20 seed (7-5, 4-6, 6-3) and No 5 seed Andrey Rublev (7-6 (8), 6-4).

Madrid Masters, other quarter-finals results (Caja Magica, clay, EUR 7.705.780, most recent results first):

• Jan-Lennard Struff vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas
• Zhizhen Zhang vs. Aslan Karatsev
• Daniel Altmaier vs. Borna Coric

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