Carlos Alcaraz kept alive his electric run of form on Friday at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, where he extended his win streak to eight matches.
The top seed earned an impressive 7-5, 6-3 victory over Alex de Minaur to reach the semi-finals at the ATP 500. Alcaraz, who lifted his second ATP Tour title of the season in Monte-Carlo on Sunday, was twice forced to rally in the opening set, but timed his charge to perfection to seal a one-hour, 39-minute victory.
“I started quite badly with the serve, I was struggling a little bit mentally with [it],” said Alcaraz, who won 57 per cent (12/21) of first-serve points in the opening set, according to Infosys ATP Stats. “It was just the first few games with my serve, then I think I improved a lot. I calmed myself down and started to think positively again. Alex started strong, playing aggressively, and the first set was really tight.”
Alcaraz is now among a group of six players to record eight consecutive tour-level wins in 2025. The Spaniard, who won back-to-back titles in Barcelona in 2022-23 will next face Arthur Fils who advanced to the last four after Stefanos Tsitsipas retired due to injury.
In the other half of the draw, sixth seed Holger Rune delivered a statement 6-4, 6-2 victory over defending champion Casper Ruud. Although the 21-year-old Dane commanded from the baseline, he displayed the tactical nous to move forward when required, highlighted by a clever serve-and-volley play en route to holding serve for 2-0 in the second set.
By notching his third consecutive Top-10 win (also Tsitsipas, Medvedev en route to Indian Wells final), Rune extended his quarter-final winning streak to six matches, which dates back to Cincinnati last year.
“It means a lot, it was a really good match today,” said Rune, who improved to 14-9 in 2025. “I was hitting through my groundstrokes and feeling good. I played the right way and I’m very happy I was able to finish it. He made it difficult, he’s a great player. I think I played on my terms and I was really explosive, this is how I want to play.”
Barcelona ATP 500 semifinals:
[1] Carlos Alcaraz vs. [7] Arthur Fils
[6] Holger Rune vs. Karen Khachanov
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