"It means a lot. All the hard work pays off today" - Alcaraz after maiden win over Nadal

One year after winning only three games in a second-round defeat to Rafael Nadal at the 2021 Madrid Open, 19-year-old Carlos Alcaraz got his revenge with a 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 victory.

Alcaraz withstood a Nadal 2nd set comeback as well as a second-set fall on the Madrid clay to prevail in an absorbing two-hour, 29-minute encounter. The win propelled him into the semifinals where he will face Novak Djokovic, a match he desperately wanted for quite some time now. It also ensures that he will make his top 10 debut on Monday being ranked 6th overall.

Following the match, Alcaraz said:

“It means a lot to me. All the hard work that I put in every day pays off today. To beat Rafa, to beat the best player in history on clay, it means a lot to me.”

The win was a hard-fought and hard-earned one for Alcaraz. A 2nd set tumble saw him take two MTOs for an ankle issue but he was able to toughen it out. He said:

“It affected me a lot. When I lost the second set, I [just] thought that I was able to come back, to do my best, try everything on court, fight until the last ball. It was the key.”