Carlos Alcaraz continues an impressive winning streak on the Queen's turf

Put him on clay or mown grass, and the result will be the same. Two weeks after his impressive victory over Jannik Sinner at Roland Garros, Carlos Alcaraz won the Queen's grass court tournament in London on Sunday, June 22, defeating Czech Jiri Lehecka in three sets (7-5, 6-7, 6-2) in the final. This is his eighteenth consecutive victory. The 22-year-old Spaniard also played his fifth consecutive final this Sunday, after those he played in Monte Carlo, Rome, Barcelona, ​​and Paris.

This Sunday, in a confrontation between excellent servers, Alcaraz converted the only break point of the first two sets in the first set, at 5-5, to win 7-5. He then lost the second in a tie-break punctuated by sumptuous rallies, before breaking Jiri Lehecka, 23 years old and ^30th player in the world, in the third set, where his percentage of first serves was exceptional (17/18, 94%).

The 22-year-old Spaniard, world number two, is now fully focused on Wimbledon (June 30-July 13), where he will arrive as the favorite, after his victories in 2023 and 2024. Coming off the clay court season, Rafael Nadal's distant successor has fully adapted to the faster game played on grass. On Saturday, he easily dispatched (6-4, 6-4) his compatriot Roberto Bautista, 37 years old and world ^number 51, in nearly an hour and thirty minutes. Relying once again on a very effective serve, he symbolically pocketed his ^250th career victory that day.

For his part, Italian Jannik Sinner, the unfortunate hero of the last Roland-Garros final, had a more difficult return to grass. Entering the Halle tournament (Germany), he was eliminated (3-6, 6-3, 6-4) in the second round by Kazakh Alexander Bublik. "I'm going to have a few days off before Wimbledon which will serve me well," said the world number one. "Honestly, a little break will do me good," he insisted.

Sinner, however, didn't fall against just any player. Bublik, ranked ^45th in the world, beat Russian Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 7-6 in the final this Sunday in 1 hour and 21 minutes.

"I hope you'll be in Carlos's draw at Wimbledon, then we might have a sensation in the ^third or ^fourth round . Keep playing like that, and please, Carlos or Jannik in your draw at Wimbledon," Medvedev quipped after his defeat, to underline how much outside help would be welcome to prevent the Spaniard or the Italian from winning the next Grand Slam tournament.