Tennis player Carlos Alcaraz has won his first Grand Slam title at the US Open. The 19-year-old Spaniard, placed third in New York, defeated Norwegian Casper Ruud, number 5 on the seeding list, in four sets: 6-4 2-6 7-6 (1) 6-3.
With the win of the US Open on Monday, Alcaraz is also the new number 1 in the world ranking. He takes over that position from Daniil Medvedev. The Russian defending champion was eliminated in the fourth round and lost his leading position. Alcaraz replaces Australian Lleyton Hewitt as the youngest number 1 in the world.
There was a lot at stake for both players in the final battle at Flushing Meadows. Not only was the title the biggest prize of their career to date, there was also the knowledge that the winner could call himself the new number 1 in the world ranking a day later. For Alcaraz it was also his first final of a grand slam tournament, although he already won four titles this year. Ruud lost his first grand slam final in Paris to Rafael Nadal in May, but won the tournaments in Gstaad, Geneva and Buenos Aires, although they were all on clay. His only other final on hard court this year, he lost to Alcaraz in Miami.
With attacking play, Alcaraz took the initiative in the first set in the Arthur Ashe stadium. After break chances on both sides in the opening games, the Spaniard won Ruud’s save at 1-1. That break was enough to win the first set, in which he appeared at the net where necessary and took the points.
In the second set, Alcaraz was less dominant on his own serve. He scored few points, especially on his second serve, and the Norwegian was also better in the rallies. Ruud broke and came to 4-2 and took the set with a second break: 6-2. Alcaraz showed resilience by running out to 2-0 straight away in the third set, but Ruud came back. He got two set points on the Spaniard’s service at 6-5. He still forced a tiebreak and easily won it 7-1 due to mistakes by Ruud.
The revived Alcaraz took the save from his Norwegian opponent in the fourth set at 3-2 and was suddenly close to his first grand slam title. After three marathon matches in a row, which he only won in the fifth set, he got his first two match points against Ruud at 5-3 in the fourth set. After three hours and 20 minutes it was on the second match point with an ace. Full of disbelief, he dropped on the American hard court.