Carlos Alcaraz escaped upset danger after blowing four match points but squeezing through a final-set tiebreaker on Tuesday to win a joint-record 14th straight match at the Madrid Masters.
The Spanish champion at the last two editions joined his idol Rafael Nadal on the leading consecutive wins total in Madrid thanks to a narrow 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4) victory into the quarter-finals over Jan-Lennard Struff.
The match was a reprise of last year’s Madrid final won by the 20-year-old Alcaraz, who celebrates a birthday on Sunday.
The second seed made life difficult for himself in the ninth game of the second set.
Alcaraz failed four times to close out victory as his German opponent came through on a third break point in the game to climb to 4-5.
Recent Munich champion Struff kept up the pressure in front of the Alcaraz home public which was willing their man on.
The German took the final set into a tiebreaker, recovering from a mini-break down; Alcaraz lobbed for a fifth match point and raised his arms in victory from his opponent’s concluding volley error.
“This match reminded me of last year’s final – very difficult from first point to last,” Alcaraz said
“It was a great fight. It was difficult for me to deal with my emotions and the difficult moments.
“It was tough serving for it being 40-0 up (leading 5-3 in the third set).
“But I’m happy, at the end it didn’t affect me. My mentality was to keep fighting, that was all that mattered.
“I was happy to get the win. I have to thank the crowd who wre supporting me and pushing me not to give up fighting.
“It was incredible to have them behind me.”
Alcaraz wil face off in the quarter-finals against Andrey Rublev, who booked his spot 6-2, 6-4 over Tallon Greikspoor.
