With Carlos Alcaraz's triumph on Sunday at The Queen's Club, he earned his first victory on a grass court and moved back up to No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. At the Cinch Championships, the top seed overcame tenacious Australian Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-4 to win the title. The Spaniard will surpass Novak Djokovic for the top spot in the world on Monday.
Alcaraz is currently tied with Daniil Medvedev for the most ATP Tour victories this year with five. He had a 4-2 record on grass going into the week. But the 20-year-old quickly advanced to the title without dropping a set the remainder of the week after needing a final-set tie-break to defeat Arthur Rinderknech in his opening encounter.
It was a contemporary grass-court competition in the final. Alcaraz and De Minaur engaged in a fierce struggle from the baseline, running each other from corner to corner with the ATP 500 trophy on the line, only moving forward to finish points. This was in contrast to the traditional serve-and-volley and repeated net rushes during every point. However, when they did enter the forecourt, both players had incredible feel.
The top seed claimed a break in the first set at 4-4, when De Minaur missed a running forehand long. Alcaraz had his upper right leg taped after the set, but showed no physical decline as the match wore on. De Minaur relinquished the lone break of the second set with a double fault and that proved the only advantage Alcaraz needed. The top seed fell behind 0/30 when he served for the championship, but remained calm to finish the job and give himself confidence leading into Wimbledon.
Carlos Alcaraz proud of his triumph:
During an inc-ourt interview, the 20-year-old expressed prude at his achievement, but feels things don't change much as No.1 or No.2 in Wimbledon.
"It means a lot to me. Being able to win this amazing tournament in my first time that I played here for me is fantastic. To know that I’m [capable of] a good level on grass, obviously [to be] champion of every tournament feels special. Of course, recovering the No. 1 before Wimbleon, it gives you extra motivation, it gives you extra confidence coming into Wimbledon. But it doesn’t change too much if I play Wimbledon as the No. 2 or the No. 1."
