By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Carlos Alcaraz is back at the top of lawn tennis after blanking Daniil Medvedev- 7.6, 6.1- to bag the BNP Paribas Open championship title on March 18, 2024, at Indian Wells, California.
After suffering multiple heartbreaks in his last Grand Slam and Major ATP trips, the young Spanish superstar is once again king of the sport and solidified his place as the world no. 2 male player behind Novak Djokovic.
Fresh off a scintillating come-from-behind victory over Jannik Sinner in the semifinal round, Alcaraz carried the consistency that he built and was all over the court pummeling the ball on Medvedev.
It was a back-and-forth affair in the first set as Medvedev’s forehand wizardry neutralized Alcaraz’s plans of attacking the net area early in the game.
With Medvedev’s down-the-line shots connecting, Alcaraz was forced to backpedal and engage in the baseline showdown.
After scoring back-to-back points in the tiebreaker, Alcaraz found the perfect opening to unleash his net attack that helped him seal the deal and take a 1-0 lead.
Gassed and running out of options after the first set meltdown, Medvedev lost focus in the game and could only watch Alcaraz work his magic with his court mastery.
After Alcaraz noticed that Medvedev was tired, he then reverted to his serve-and-volley technique that steered him to an early 4-1 lead.
A crucial break point then increased Alcaraz’s lead to four and put the cherry on top with a booming forehand winner to officially claim the Indian Wells title.
Before setting up the grand finale with Medvedev, Alcaraz survived the challenges of Sinner, Alexander Zverev, Fabian Marozsan, Felix Auger Aliassime, and Matteo Arnaldi.
