Carlos Alcaraz maintained his dominant run on clay as the world number two battled past France’s Arthur Fils 6-2, 6-4 on Saturday to reach his third successive Barcelona Open final. The two-time defending champion will meet Denmark’s Holger Rune in Sunday’s title match.
With his ninth win in a row, Alcaraz, who had already won the Barcelona trophy in 2022 and 2023, never looked like slowing down. In a repeat of their quarter-final in Monte Carlo last week, the 21-year-old Spaniard was calm and clinical, saving the only break point he faced and taking his chances as he brushed aside the seventh-seeded Fils in straight sets.
“To be in the final in Barcelona again, it means a lot, especially in front of my people, my friends from Murcia and all the fans here in Spain,” Alcaraz said. “It’s been a fun and great week. We’ll see if we can finish with a trophy tomorrow.” It’s going to be tough.”
In the opening semi-final earlier, sixth seed Rune produced a dominating performance to beat Karen Khachanov of Russia 6-3, 6-2 to reach his second ATP 500 final. Rune, who had knocked out defending champion Casper Ruud in the quarter-finals.
