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Carlos Alcaraz at the Miami Open final
Photo: Wilfredo Lee / dpa
Spanish tennis prodigy Carlos Alcaraz won his first ATP Masters in Miami and became the youngest winner in tournament history.
In his first Masters final, the 18-year-old defeated the Zverev conqueror Casper Ruud from Norway, five years his senior, 7: 5, 6: 4.
For Alcaraz it is the third title on the tour after Umag 2021 and Rio de Janeiro 2022.
"I'm absolutely speechless and so happy," said Alcaraz: "I've always tried to attack, not to let him dominate the game."
Alcaraz, who won the Next Generation ATP Finals last year, will be in eleventh place in the new world rankings from Monday.
The right-hander continued his strong start to the year on the tour with success and now has 18 wins and two losses in 2022. At the US Open in September 2021, "the most exciting talent in the tennis world" had, among other things, after a five-set win reached the quarterfinals against Stefanos Tsitsipas.
After a nervous start with many minor mistakes, Alcaraz stabilized and was able to win the first set despite being down 0:3 and 1:4.
In the second set, Alcaraz, who had defeated last year's winner Hubert Hurkacz from Poland in the semifinals, managed a direct break.
As a result, he delivered a sovereign performance.
Only Chang and Nadal were younger
After almost two hours, Alcaraz, who was in 14th position, converted his first match point and is now the third youngest winner of a Masters, only younger were the American Michael Chang in Toronto in 1990 and Grand Slam record winner Rafael Nadal in Monte Carlo in 2005.
For Ruud, who moved up to seventh place in the world rankings after participating in the final in Florida, it would have been the eighth triumph on the ATP Tour.
Most recently, in February, he won the final in Buenos Aires against local hero Diego Schwartzman in three sets.