Milan, Nov 14: Just as he had done all week, Carlos Alcaraz dominated in Milan to beat Sebastian Korda of the United States and win the Next Gen ATP Finals, capping a brilliant season for the Spanish teenager.
The top-seeded Alcaraz seemed to take a while to find his proper rhythm and had to save a number of break points in his first two service games of the final.
But once the 18-year-old was in his stride there was no turning back as he saw off Korda 4-3 (5), 4-2, 4-2 in 82 minutes on Saturday. And Alcaraz swiftly turned his mind to loftier ambitions.
“Great players like Stefanos (Tsitsipas), Jannik (Sinner) have won this tournament but winning this tournament doesn’t mean anything if you don’t combine it with hard work, with discipline that you need to achieve your dreams,” Alcaraz said.
“My dream is to become No. 1 in the world, so I work hard for that. And above and beyond winning this tournament, the truth is that I continue to be focused on my dream which is to become No. 1 in the world.”
Alcaraz will be looking to make it in rapid-quick time. He had just one tour-level win coming into 2021. He now has 32.
Victory in Milan saw Alcaraz become the youngest player to achieve that number of wins in a season since Andrei Medvedev went 32-11 in 1992 when he was 18. Alcaraz has moved more than 100 places up the rankings this season to a career-high No. 32 and reached the U.S. Open quarterfinals. (AP)1
