Carlos Alcaraz is the winner of the new tournament format “Red Bull Bassline”. The Spanish youngster beat Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, the world’s number 3, in two Tie breaks, thus repeating his upset from the US Open’s third round, where he ousted Tsitsipas in five thrilling sets. “Now you beat me again”, Tsitsipas joked, adding “but you’ve earned the win.”
Alcaraz was enthused by the new format: “A really cool event. The fans were great, then there was the music during the match – it was something completely different for a change”, the only 18-year old Spaniard smiled.
New format
The eight invited players – among them the two Austrians Dennis Novak and Jurij Rodionov – fought in a best-of-three tie break format for the win. The tournament kicked off with the quarter finals, then there was a new draw for the semis. The players didn’t know in advance which player to expect in the next round beforehand.
The felicitous premiere in front of more than 1,000 spectators in the newly erected tent on the grounds of the Wiener Eislauf-Verein could have easily already been the end for favorite Tsitsipas as he lost the first set 7-4 to his Austrian opponent Novak. But the Greek stormed back and took the match 7-5, 7-5. In the semis he had no such problems, beating American Reilly Opelka 7-2, 8-6.
Dominating Alcaraz
Alcaraz was the dominating man from the beginning in his campaign for the title. In an all-Spanish duel with veteran Feliciano Lopez he stormed to a 7-0, 12-10 win, adding an easy 7-4, 7-4 win against Cristian Garin from Chile in the semis.
Alcaraz was also the dominating player in the finals, beating Tsitsipas 7-4, 7-5.