ATP INDIAN WELLS – Carlos Alcaraz (20) defeated Daniil Medvedev (28) again after a year in the final of the thousand in Indian Wells. The Spaniard thus defended the trophy on a hard surface for the first time. In the fight for the title, he beat the Russian 7:6, 6:1 and won his fifth Masters 1000 event.
Medvedev – Alcaraz 6:7, 1:6
Carlos Alcaraz arrived at Indian Wells two weeks after injuring his ankle in Rio de Janeiro. After losing the opening set to the Italian Matteo Arnaldi, he got going and confirms that he is doing well in California. He adjusted the local balance to 16:1. In the replay of last year’s final, he again did not lose a set against Daniil Medvedev, with whom he had lost only in grand slams so far, and increased the mutual record to 4:2. Just like last year, the youngest world number one in history managed to beat Sinner in California and then the Russian tennis player.
HE IS BACK!
20 years old Carlos Alcaraz beats Daniil Medvedev 7-6(5), 6-1 to win back to back Indian Wells titles. 12 consecutive wins at the event.
13 ATP titles
5 ATP Masters 1000 titles
First title since Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/zVm9ZL9Heu
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) March 17, 2024
Medvedev won the first game at the reception and led 2:0 after using the second break point. In the following long game, he turned away three chances from the young Spaniard and increased his lead. Alcaraz made more unforced errors and looked less composed than usual. He tried to push the Russian immediately from the return, which paid off in the fifth game, he won Medvedev’s serve for the first time after the winning forehand, and then leveled by winning the third game in a row. For the rest of the set, both players held their serves and the action had to be decided by a shortened game. In that one, Alcaraz took the lead 5:2, he took advantage of the first set point after Medvedev’s forehand error and after 70 minutes of the match he won the tie-break with a ratio of 7:5.
The winning set gave the young Spaniard more confidence and in the second act he took the opponent’s serve right from the start and took the lead thanks to great winning shots. Alcaraz stopped making unforced errors and held onto his three-game lead. With the score 4:1, he again attacked Medvedev’s serve and in the following game he served the match.
Match Stats (@Livesport)
“Winning this tournament again means a lot to me. I was worried about my ankle from the start and I wasn’t feeling well. But from the first round I got better and felt better. Winning the Masters gives me extra motivation for the next tournament in Miami.” Alcaraz mentioned immediately after the match.
As the defending champion, Alcaraz started for the eighth time and for the third time in his career he managed to repeat the triumph of the previous season. He did it for the first time away from home clay. The two-time Grand Slam champion waited eight months for the triumph since last year’s Wimbledon. This year, he was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, in the semifinals in Buenos Aires, and in Rio de Janeiro he gave up after two games due to injury. The last player to defend his title at Indian Wells was Roger Federer in 2018.
Only at the age of 20, Alcaraz played his sixth final at the Masters events, in this phase of the prestigious 1000s he has a great success rate of 5:1. His only setback came in his previous final across all levels last August in Cincinnati, despite being able to beat Novak Djokovic in straight sets and having a match point at his disposal. Overall, he has a record of 13:4 in the finals.
“I would like to congratulate Carlos, you are doing well on this court and you and your team are doing a good job, keep it up. Hopefully you’ll let me win here one day” he said with a smile after receiving the trophy for the defeated finalist Medvedev. “I also thank my team for a fun two weeks, we are doing a good job. Thanks to everyone who supports me, you are the reason why I play,” he added.
The former leader of the ranking and currently the fourth ranked player Medvedev still belongs to the best on hard surfaces, especially on those on the North American continent. In the final of the prestigious 1000, he has a success rate of 6:4.
Results of the Masters 1000 tournament in Indian Wells
2024-03-17 23:23:08
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