ATP Masters Madrid: Jan-Lennard Struff loses to Carlos Alcaraz in the final after an impressive performance

Jan-Lennard Struff explained after the match that Madrid had been “an incredible journey”. It was “cool” to have a second chance as a lucky loser.

“It’s a very special thing to win a Masters here in Spain. I will never forget it. Sometimes I couldn’t show my game today and I had to wait for my chances,” stressed Carlos Alcaraz.

While Struve came back aggressively and showed good body language, Alcaraz sometimes made unusual mistakes.

However, the 20-year-old wrapped up the first set with another break to make it 4:3 after a total of 52 minutes.

Struve’s reaction to the impotence was astonishing.

Struff dominates the second set against Alcaraz

Warsteiner kept looking for coach Marvin Netochell, and gained security and self-confidence. In the second match, he broke through to world number 65. Then Alcaraz served for the first time and shortly after that they fell 3-0.

Symbolic of Struff’s formidable will: In the fifth game, which lasted 15 minutes (!), he hit five break balls and took a 4-1 lead. “Unbelievable. Strovi played and parried all these balls well,” exclaimed Misha Zverev, who accompanied the match as a TV expert for “Sky”.

So Struve received a well-deserved, sovereign set of equalizers. How far the veteran managed to upset the big favorites was shown in the first stage of the third round.

Football atmosphere: Alcaraz shows emotion

Alcaraz recklessly cheered and moved the crowd at Caja Mágica after blocking a break ball and winning the match to make it 2-1. The atmosphere of soccer prevailed as Carlos was cheering as the Spaniard added the break to make it 3-1.

was the initial decision. Struff could not get in, Alcaraz made a perfect title defense after a playing time of 2:26 hours with the first ball of the match.

Struff missed out on winning the Masters as the fifth German player after Boris Becker, Michael Stich, Tommy Haas and Alexander Zverev, but Real Madrid can look back on that impressive success.

“His answer in the second set was fantastic, but Carlitos was stable in the third and showed in key moments why he is number one or two in the world,” coach Netochel said on Sky.

Struff: An incredible ride as Lucky Loser

For Struff, the two weeks in Madrid were an amazing journey that seemed to come to an end after the second qualifying round. The German lost to Aslan Karatsev, but slipped into the main draw as a lucky loser.

After Stefanos Tsitsipas was surprisingly knocked out of the competition in the quarterfinals, he met Karatsev again – and beat the Russian in the fight for a place in the final.

A milestone for Struff, who has only reached a tour-level final in Munich in 2021 – a record. No lucky loser has ever made it to the finals of a Masters competition.