Carlos Alcaraz enjoys ‘abnormal’ win after obliterating Sascha Zverev

Carlos Alcaraz admitted that his dominant result “wasn’t normal” after he needed just 82 minutes to breeze past Alexander Zverev 6-1 6-2 in Madrid. Ahead of the match, the Spaniard shared his hopes of trying to redeem his losing record against the German and he was in sublime form as he avenged his French Open defeat from their previous meeting.

Alcaraz earned a massive confidence boost on Tuesday as he dominated Zverev in their round-of-16 clash. The top seed outclassed the world No 16, dropping just eight points on his serve throughout the 82-minute encounter.

And the win had significance for the 19-year-old, who said he was relishing the chance to test himself against the German ahead of their fifth career meeting. After getting past Zverev for the loss of just three games, the world No 2 explained that it felt abnormal to produce such a dominant performance.

“Well for me it’s amazing to play the level that I played today,” he said after the match. “It’s been a question mark for me. This result is not normal for me.”

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Alcaraz continued: “I played great, I feel really good right now this match give me a lot of confidence.” The nine-time title winner also admitted that he had been nervous ahead of his showdown with Zverev.

“A little bit [of nerves] at the beginning honestly but I have to handle the nerves,” he added. “The best players in the world handle the nerves really, really good and I want to be like them, trying not to show the opponent that I’m nervous.

“And I just want to enjoy playing here in the Caja Magica, in front of my home crowd. It’s been amazing for me to play here, so I just enjoy every moment.” Alcaraz will now face Karen Khachanov after the 10th seed dispatched countryman Andrey Rublev earlier on Tuesday.

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“I will try to play this level,” he said of his upcoming quarter-final. As for Zverev, the 26-year-old is set to drop out of the world’s top 20 after failing to defend his points from being last year’s runner-up.

The German’s last defeat in Madrid also came at the hands of Alcaraz 12 months ago in the final. He was able to get revenge weeks later by winning their French Open quarter-final clash but Alcaraz turned the tables once again by winning their fifth encounter.

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