Home-country favorite Carlos Alcaraz won his 14th straight tour match on Spanish soil, topping Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-4 to capture the title at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell on Sunday.
For Alcaraz, who turns 20 next month, it was his ninth ATP Tour victory and second straight in Barcelona. The world’s No. 2 player is now 10-1 playing there following the 70-minute defeat of the No. 5-ranked Tsitsipas.
Alcaraz won the service battle against Tsitsipas, capturing 81 percent (30 of 37) of the points on his first serve and 73 percent (8 of 11) on his second serve, compared to 70 percent and 48 percent, respectively, for the Greek.
Alcaraz is now 4-0 against Tsitsipas, who was appearing in his third final in Barcelona. He lost in 2018 and 2021, both times to Rafael Nadal.
BMW Open
Top seed Holger Rune overcame apparently minor injuries as well as four championship points to defeat Botic van de Zandschulp 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (3) in Munich.
Rune, the top seed was down 5-2 in the third set, with Van de Zandschlup serving at 40-15 before he came back to win the game and stay alive. The 19-year-old Dane staved off two more championship points in 12th game of the third set, breaking van de Zandschulp’s serve for the third time in that frame to send the match to a tiebreak.
For Rune, it was his fourth ATP Tour title, which includes last year’s victory on the clay courts in Munich.
The fourth-seeded van de Zandschulp, from the Netherlands, won seven games in a row at the end of the second set and the start of the third. He appeared headed to the win, especially with Rune seeming to struggle with a right arm issue and a twisted ankle late in the third set.
The match was marked by 11 breaks of service, with Rune saving six of 12 chances on his own serve and breaking his opponent on five of 14 opportunities.
Srpska Open
Serbian Dusan Lajovic won his second ATP title — and first since 2019 — with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 defeat of second-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev in Banja Luka, Bosnia-Herzegovina.
For this week, at least, the unseeded Lajovic became the king of Serbian tennis after defeating Gregoire Barrere of France and three fellow Serbs — Filip Krajinovic, top seed Novak Djokovic and Miomir Kecmanovic to reach the final.
Lajovic now is 2-0 in his career against Rublev. With his wins over world No. 1 Djokovic and No. 6 Rublev, Lajovic beat two Top 10 opponents at the same tournament for a career first.
Rublev was seeking back-to-back titles after winning in Monte Carlo last week.
–Field Level Media