Carlos Alcaraz will face Casper Ruud in the Miami Open final on Sunday. If he wins, he will achieve something that not even his childhood idol Rafael Nadal managed to do: winning the Miami Open at 18 years of age. Rafa indeed reached the final in Florida when he was 18 in 2005, but Roger Federer stopped him in 5 sets.
Alcaraz the favorite over Caspeer Ruud
Soon after Alcaraz defeated Hubert Hurkacz, tennis pundit and former world no.10 Chanda Rubin stated that Carlito is the favorite of Casper to win the Miami Open title. Chanda believes that Carlos can put huge pressure on Ruud who will probably be pushed far back in the court. Casper is having a great run in Miami, but he is still not regarded as a hard-court player.
In addition, Alcaraz beat Ruud in straight sets 1 year ago on clay and that is an important benchmark.
Alcaraz in Miami, ranking, and results in 2022
Now the world no.16 (career-high), Alcaraz has managed to achieve an overall 17-2 record in 2022. The Spaniard is now having a run in Miami where he overcame Marton Fucsovics 6-3 6-2, Marin Cilic 6-4 6-4, Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-5 6-3, Miomir Kecmanovic 6-75 6-3 7-65 and Hubert Hurkacz 7-65 7-62.
Carlos Alcaraz will fight against the world no.8 Casper Ruud in the final on Sunday at 1:00 pm on Stadium. Their record is 1-0 for Alcaraz.
Alcaraz has won 1 title in 2022 in Rio de Janeiro.
Ruud in Miami, ranking, and results in 2022
At the moment ranked no.8 (career-high), Casper achieved a compiled 13-3 win-loss record in 2022. Casper is currently competing in Miami where he bested Henri Laaksonen 6-1 6-2, Alexander Bublik 6-3 6-2, Cameron Norrie 6-3 6-4, Alexander Zverev 6-3 1-6 6-3 and Francisco Cerundolo 6-4 6-1.
Casper Ruud will come up against the world no.16 Carlos Alcaraz in the final on Sunday at 1:00 pm on Stadium. Their current head to head is 1-0 for Alcaraz.
Ruud conquered 1 title in 2022 in Buenos Aires.
Casper won 7 titles in his career: 1 on hard courts and 6 on clay courts. (See the list of his titles)
Carlos Alcaraz and Casper Ruud squared off just on 1 occasion. Their current head to head is 1-0 for Alcaraz. When they played, Carlos Alcaraz won 6-2 6-4 in the quarter in Marbella (Anytech365 Andalucia Open) in April 2021.
You can watch the highlights in the following video.
Rafael Nadal in 2022
Ranked no.3, the Spaniard played his last match on the 20th of March when he lost to world no.13 Taylor Fritz 6-3 7-6(5) in the final in Indian Wells (draw).
Until now, during this year the Spaniard has a 20-1 win-loss record. The Spaniard has won 3 titles in 2022 in Melbourne, at the Australian Open and in Acapulco. Rafael was the finalist in Indian Wells.