Alcaraz Defeats Fils and Aims for Barcelona Treble

Carlos Alcaraz aims to become the fifth tennis player in history to win the Conde de Godó three times. The Murcian, who once again defeated Arthur Fils (6-2, 6-4), as he did a week ago in Monte Carlo, will face Holger Rune for the chance to join this select group, which includes Rafa Nadal with twelve titles, and other legends like Mats Wilander, Manuel Orantes, and Roy Emerson, each with three.

Alcaraz, who has thirteen consecutive victories in Barcelona and hasn't lost a set since the 2022 semifinals—accumulating 22 consecutive sets won—continues his love affair with this city against a player who recently experienced what it's like to play and lose against him.

Fils preserved the recent memory of what happened a week ago in Monte Carlo, when he was five points away from winning the match. He had a 0-40 to break Alcaraz's serve and serve for his first Masters 1,000 final. It could easily be argued that the Frenchman deserved to win that encounter, but the interesting thing about tennis is that these arguments must be maintained until the last point, and Fils was unable to do so.

That's why he tried to propose a riskier match in Barcelona, aiming to neutralize the best Alcaraz seen this season, which flourished in the victory against Alex de Minaur. However, that boldness also translates into dangers like the double faults he committed, handing the first breaks of the match to the Spaniard.

The script was already different from Monte Carlo. Then, Fils took advantage of Alcaraz's slow start to nearly win, but this time that advantage didn't exist. Alcaraz, with the momentum from his match against de Minaur, started ahead and made the Frenchman question his strategy, causing him to rush repeatedly.

Not even the supposed greater rest for the Frenchman, who saw Stefanos Tsitsipas retire after three games in the quarterfinals, played in his favor. While Alcaraz flowed, Fils accumulated more than twenty unforced errors in just one set. His accuracy didn't improve in the second set. Alcaraz didn't need extreme acceleration or significant aggression to counterattack. The Frenchman always faltered, and the victory, achieved in an hour and sixteen minutes, allows him to aim for his third title of the year after Rotterdam and Monte Carlo.

His opponent in the final will be the reborn Rune, who defeated Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-2 in just over an hour. The Dane, who with this result will return to the world's top 10, has only lost one set all week, against Sebastián Báez in the second round, and has impressed with his quick victories over Casper Ruud, the defending champion, and Khachanov, who had beaten Alejandro Davidovich and Jaume Munar.

Rune, who reached world number four in August 2023, significantly dropped his level in 2024 and fell out of the top 15 rankings, failing to reach any finals between January 2024 and April 2025. In Indian Wells, he lost the title to Jack Draper, and despite losing in the first round in Miami and withdrawing in Monte Carlo, he has found his best form in Barcelona, where he hadn't played before.

Alcaraz leads the head-to-head with two victories, at the 2021 Next Gen Finals and Wimbledon 2023, while the Dane claimed victory at the 2022 Paris-Bercy Masters 1,000, in a match where the Murcian was injured.

With a victory in the Godó final, Alcaraz would extend his lead as the best player of the year to 910 points over Jannik Sinner, while reducing the gap with him in the rankings to 1,110 points.