The 18-year-old Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz has won the masters tournament in Miami. The teenage sensation defeated Norwegian Casper Ruud in the final 7-5 6-4.
In the first set, Alcaraz reversed a 4-1 deficit by winning six of the next seven games. Then Alcaraz started the second set energetically by walking out to 3-0 and a double break. Ruud managed to undo another break, but could not prevent the Spaniard from finishing it on his first match point after an hour and 52 minutes. After hitting the decisive volley, Alcaraz fell backwards on the hard court.
Alcaraz, who started the week as the world’s number 16, is the third youngest ever winner of a masters tournament. Only Michael Chang and Rafael Nadal were younger when they first topped one of the masters tournaments.
In Miami, there was never a younger winner. That statistic was in the hands of Novak Djokovic, who was missing from Florida because he was not vaccinated against the corona virus.
On the way to the final, Alcaraz had defeated Marin Cilic, Stefanos Tsitsipas and title holder Hubert Hurkacz, among others. Due to his title, he rises to eleventh place in the world ranking. Ruud is four places higher on Monday.
Alcaraz has only played four tournaments this season. At the Australian Open he lost in the third round, he then won the tournament in Rio de Janeiro and at Indian Wells he had to acknowledge his superiority in Rafael Nadal.
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