RIO DE JANEIRO – Spanish teenager Carlos Alcaraz beat Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman 6-4, 6-2 to win the Rio Open.
The 18-year-old Alcaraz overcame third-seeded Schwartzman in the final to the delight of Brazilian fans at the clay-court tournament.
The seventh-seeded Spaniard won his first professional match in Rio de Janeiro two years ago and his first tournament last year at Umag, Croatia, also on clay.
The 29-year-old Schwartzman said his younger rival is doing “an amazing job.”
“He is so young and is already achieving impressive things,” the Argentine said according to AP.
Alcaraz praised Schwartzman’s fighting spirit and thanked the crowd for its support.
“I have no words to describe what I had here from the first match until this final,” Alcaraz said.
The Spaniard converted five of his six break points overall and dominated with impressive baseline play.
Alcaraz’s path to the title included upsetting top-seeded Matteo Berrettini in the quarter-finals and then beating another Italian, Fabio Fognini, in the semi-finals.
Elsewhere, former World No.1 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus had to stage an incredible fightback in her opening match at the Qatar Open, outlasting Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 5-7, 6-2, 7-5.
No.12 seed Azarenka, who won back-to-back Doha titles in 2012 and 2013, was down 0-4 in the third set and saved a match point at 5-4 in the decider before prevailing after 2 hours and 48 minutes of gripping tennis.
In the only prior encounter between the pair, Azarenka had to save two match points before ousting Putintseva at the Grampians Trophy in Melbourne last season.
Azarenka somehow repeated the feat as she squeaked past 42nd-ranked Putintseva once again. Azarenka has now improved her stellar career win-loss record in Doha to 18-2, as she aims to become the first three-time Doha champion.
“Wins like this are sometimes more important than a clean match, because you find a way when you’re not playing well,” Azarenka said on court, after the match.
“You just try to find a window, try to find an opportunity. I feel like I didn’t play really well today, but I was fighting for everything. I didn’t really look that the score was down. I knew that I have to keep going, I will find my opportunity, and I’m really glad I stuck [with it] here.”
Azarenka won 74 percent of her first-service points and fired 51 winners overall to eke out the win and move to 6-3 for the 2022 season thus far.
Putintseva is still seeking her first main-draw win of the season after a first-round defeat at the Australian Open and a loss to Marketa Vondrousova in Dubai qualifying.
Azarenka had numerous chances to take command of the first set but was often stymied on break points, going 1-for-13 in the opener.
Putintseva used pinpoint passing and sturdy footspeed to keep pace and was rewarded with a break in the last game, following a deep return with a successful drop shot.
