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Top seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain beat seventh seed Alex de Minaur of Australia 6-4 6-4 in the final of the cinch championships at Queen's Club in London on Sunday, June 25. It was the first title on grass for the 20-year-old Spaniard and his fifth of the year.
Alcaraz has also won titles at Indian Wells, Buenos Aires, Barcelona and Madrid this season. He looks like the only player capable of testing Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon, which gets underway in the first week of July.
On that note, let's take a look at two things that stood out in the match:
#1 Alcaraz played his inside-out forehand to put De Minaur under pressure
There were a lot of crosscourt backhand exchanges between the two in the first set. However, the uneven bounce kept bothering the 24-year-old Australian, especially while he was returning. De Minaur struggled to contend with Alcaraz from the baseline, as the Spaniard was the stronger and quicker of the two.
The Spaniard often went around his backhand, especially in the second set, to play his inside-out forehands, which put De Minaur under pressure.
The Spaniard had to save two break points in the eighth game of the first set before finally holding serve. He then broke the Australian in the ninth game before serving out the set to draw first blood.
#2 De Minaur rushed the net frequently
Knowing full well that he would not be able to cope with Alcaraz's power from the baseline, De Minaur started to rush the net frequently midway through the first set. He played approach shots before venturing forward to finish points with volleys and overhead smashes. That tactic paid off well in his service games, as the Australian managed to win a lot of points on his first serve.
However, he still found it impossible to break the Spaniard's serve. The top seed, however, broke him in the fifth game of the second set and held serve to go 4-2 up. He held on to his lead for the rest of the match to win it in straight sets.
De Minaur actually won more points on his first serve than Alcaraz did (78% against 72%). However, the precocious Spaniard won 65% of the points on his second delivery, while the Australian managed only 48%, which proved to be decisive.
