It’s been an incredible week of tennis in Madrid and we have one more match to determine the champion: Carlos Alcaraz vs Alexander Zverev
Will the young Spaniard continue his nine-match winning streak or will Zverev pick up another Masters 1000 title in the Spanish capital?
Read on for my best guess!
ATP Madrid Final Prediction
Carlos Alcaraz vs Alexander Zverev
Head to Head: 2-0 Zverev
Words cannot describe how well Carlos Alcaraz has played in recent weeks. In the quarterfinals of Madrid, Alcaraz took down Rafael Nadal and now, in the semifinals, Alcaraz beat Novak Djokovic. Alcaraz won 74% of his first serves against Djokovic, impressive given the Serb’s returning prowess. And the young Spaniard only got broken once all match in the 6-7(5), 7-5, 7-6(5) victory.
Alexander Zverev won the title in Madrid last season and he’s continued his good form in the Spanish capital this week. Zverev won his semifinal match over Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. Zverev has served very well in Madrid and this continued in the semifinals, when Zverev won 83% of his first-serve points and faced only two break points all match.
Zverev leads the head to head 2-0, however, they haven’t played since Alcaraz had his breakthrough this season. Alcaraz is doing an excellent job of controlling the baseline this week and he will push Zverev back behind the baseline and direct many balls to the weaker Zverev forehand. And Alcaraz’s backhand is good enough to hold its own when Zverev targets that wing.
Alcaraz has much better variety than Zverev and disguises his drop shots very well. Zverev will need to have a lot of aces and unreturned serves, as once the rally begins, Alcaraz has the clear edge. Alcaraz has incredible foot speed too, so Zverev will have to go for very fine margins to hit through the Spaniard.
While Zverev did well to reach another final in Madrid, this is Alcaraz’s time to shine.
Prediction: Alcaraz in 2
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