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The defending Madrid Masters champion Carlos Alcaraz will seek his fourth Masters 1000 crown in Sunday's final in Caja Magica. The home favorite celebrated his 20th birthday on Manolo Santana Court after a 6-4, 6-3 triumph over Borna Coric in an hour and 40 minutes.
Thus, the Spaniard will seek his tenth ATP title against Jan-Lennard Struff or Aslan Karatsev, hoping for the title defense and to pass Novak Djokovic on the ATP throne ahead of Roland Garros. Carlos and Borna met for the first time, and the Croat gave his best to follow the rival's pace and seek his chances.
Alcaraz overpowered him on serve and return to seal the deal in straight sets and extend his incredible run in 2023. The Spaniard faced two break points and lost serve once. Carlos stole almost half of the return points and turned them into four breaks from six opportunities, enough to move over the top.
Alcaraz played well and hit 24 winners and 18 unforced errors.
Carlos Alcaraz is through to his second consecutive Madrid Masters final.
He had the upper hand from the baseline and left Coric on 16 winners and 20 mistakes.
The younger played built the advantage in the shortest range up to four stokes, doing more damage with the first groundstroke on serve and return and giving the home crowd something to cheer about. Borna had to dig deep from the encounter's opening game, defending two break points and holding with a service winner after 12 minutes.
It was Carlos' turn to experience issues behind the initial shot in game four. He failed to convert game points before offering Borna a break chance. The Spaniard denied it with a service winner and held with another for 2-2.
Alcaraz forced Coric's mistake in the fifth game to secure a break at 15 and forge the first advantage. Carlos grabbed the sixth game after a drop shot winner to confirm the lead and landed a powerful serve at 4-3 to stay in front.
Coric produced two fine holds and needed a strong push on the return in the tenth game to prolong the set. Instead, Carlos held at love with a forehand winner for 6-4 in 61 minutes. The Croat netted a backhand in the second set's third game to experience a break.
He pulled it back in the next one with a forehand crosscourt winner that brought him back to 2-2. Starting all over, world no. 2 broke at 15 in the fifth game for another advantage and confirmed it with a break at 15. Carlos opened a 5-3 gap with another comfortable hold and broke at 15 in game nine to seal the deal in style and reach the title clash.