With the clay court season slowly heating up, last week we had the opportunity to watch three men’s ATP clay court tournaments. An ATP 500 series tournament was played in Barcelona, while ATP 250 series events were held in Banja Luka and Munich. The top women in the world battled at one tournament in Stuttgart
In Barcelona, Carlos Alcaraz successfully defended his title by defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-3 in yesterday’s finals.
At the Serbska Open, which was moved from Belgrade, Serbia to Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina this year, Andrey Rublev appeared in the final for the second year in a row, but this time he was defeated by the Serbian player, Dusan Lajovic 3-6, 6-4, 4-6.
In Munich, we saw a replay of the final from last year, and Holger Rune was again better than the Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp, beating him in three sets, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6.
In Stuttgart, in another replay of last year’s final, Swiatek defeated Sabalenka 6-3, 6-4.
Alcaraz Conquered Barcelona Again
Carlos Alcaraz managed to win the title at the ATP 500 tournament in Barcelona for the second year in a row. Just like a year ago when he defeated Pablo Carreno Busta in the final, Alcaraz dominated in the final by defeating the fifth-ranked tennis player in the world, Stefanos Tsitsipas, in two sets, 6-4, 6-3. The match was over in less than an hour and a half.
Alcaraz, the #2 ranked player in the world closed the gap against the #1 ranked player, Novak Djokovic, and is now trailing Djokovic by just 365 points in the ATP rankings. Alcaraz did not lose a single set in this entire tournament, continuing his streak of good results after the injury he suffered at the end of last season.
Just as in Barcelona, Alcaraz will also defend his title at the ATP Masters 1000 Madrid Open, which began today. , The Madrid Open will not see either Djokovic or Nadal compete. Djokovic just withdrew to recover from a recent injury, while Nadal has not played since the Australian Open while recovering from an injury and preparing for this year’s Roland Garros.
For the second year in a row, Nadal missed the tournament in Barcelona, which he has won a record five times.
Nadal is currently only in 14th place on the ATP rankings, and some experts and fans even question his participation in Roland Garros.
He has had problems with injuries for a long time and it is increasingly clear that the end of his career is very close. Nadal will certainly not give up that easily and is eager to say goodbye with another title in Paris.
Rune Expanded His Fleet
Holger Rune is one of the most talented players today and, like Carlos Alcaraz, he is only 19 years old. Rune, also like Acaraz, defended his title yesterday in a thriller at the BMW Open in Munich.
Once again in the final, he faced #29 ranked Botic van de Zandschulp. Unlike last year’s final where Botic van de Zandschulp reportedly was forced to retire due to a panic attack, this year we saw a very exciting match with Rune surviving four match points to come back and win.
Zandschulp managed to win the first set. Rune came back strong and easily won the second set. After a little less than three hours of fighting, Rune defeated the Dutch player in a third set tiebreaker 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(7-3).
Rune won his fourth career ATP title while van de Zandschulp missed another opportunity to win his first career title. Just like the year before, Rune won the title and received a car as a reward, which, just like last year, he won’t be able to drive because he still does not have a driver’s license.
He defended his title with only one lost set and showed that his game continues to improve as he recently made it all the way to the finals of the Monte Carlo Masters before being defeated by Rublev.
Dusan Lajovic Won The Second Title In His Career
In Banja Luka, Dusan Lajovic managed to win the second title in his career after defeating Andrey Rublev 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the final. Lajovic played brilliantly throughout the week and, in addition to Rublev, he managed to defeat the best player on the planet, Novak Djokovic, who for the third year in a row failed to win this tournament.
The tournament, normally called the Serbia Open and played in Belgrade, moved to beautiful Banja Luka for this year’s edition as the Belgrade venue is undergoing renovations in order to be able to apply to join the ATP 500 series.
Rublev defeated Novak in the finals last year, but this year he failed to defeat another Serbian player, Lajovic. Lajovics victory propelled him an incredible 30 spots on the ATP Rankings from #70 to #40 in the world.
Rublev came to Banja Luka in great shape after winning the Monte Carlo Masters, but Lajovic, supported by the cheering of the home crowd, managed to defeat the much higher ranked player.
Swiatek Celebrated Victory At Stuttgart Open
In addition to the men, the women also competed last week. In Stuttgart, Germany, the two best female players in the world met in the final, with the world #1 Iga Swiatek defeating #2 Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 6-4. Although at first glance it seems that Swiatek won easily, the match lasted almost two hours.
This was a repeat of last year’s final, in which Swiatek also defeated Sabalenka. With this title, Swiatek returned to the winning track after being defeated in the finals of the Dubai and Indian Wells tournaments. Sabalenka is waiting for a new title after becoming the champion at the Australian Open in January.
2023 Mutua Madrid Open
For the next two weeks we will have the opportunity to watch both the men and women battle at the Masters 1000 Madrid Open . Carlos Alcaraz defends the title in the men’s competition.
On the women’s side, defending champion unfortunately was forced to withdraw from the tournament today due to a calf injury.
