Stake Bettor Pockets $299K After Alcaraz Wins Second-Set Tiebreak

The brave customer put his faith in Carlos Alcaraz, and the Spaniard didn’t let him down, with Stake paying out $299,445.80 on the ticket. 

What makes this win even more spectacular is that the bettor backed Alcaraz when he was behind, which is why he got odds of 2.20. That’s a lot of money to put down under such circumstances.

The bet was a straight single on Alcaraz to win the second set against Karen Khachanov. Here's what the slip shows.

The match was the first round of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna, played on Tuesday, October 27. World No. 3 Alcaraz came back from an early break to take the opening set 6-4.

The second set is where it got messy. At 5-4, Alcaraz had three match points on Khachanov's serve and couldn't convert any of them. He then dropped his own serve, leaving Khachanov to serve for the set at 6-5.

If you had money on Alcaraz for this set, this was the moment to start sweating. He broke back to love to force a tiebreak, then fell 1-3 behind in the breaker.

Alcaraz clawed it back and sealed the tiebreak 7-5 on his fourth match point with a slick drop volley. He called it ‘a great tiebreak’ after the match. Whoever held this slip probably had a few stronger words for it.

The final score was 6-4, 7-6(5) after two hours and two minutes. Alcaraz now leads Khachanov 7-0 in their head-to-head, according to the ATP Tour.

The 2.20 price points to a live bet placed during the second set, when Alcaraz looked to be in trouble. The slip shows the bet went on close to two hours after the scheduled start time. As the match lasted just over two hours, it suggests the bet was placed at the business end of the set.

At 2.20, the odds gave Alcaraz about a 45% chance of winning the set. In other words, Khachanov was the slight favorite to take it when the bet went on.

Dropping $136K on Alcaraz when the odds said he'd probably lose the set is a bold move. Most of us would struggle to watch that tiebreak with $10 riding on it. We’ve no idea if they spotted something or just had a hunch. Either way, they're $163K up.

This isn't the only monster payout to come out of the Stake sportsbook lately. We recently covered a six-leg soccer multi that came through for one lucky punter. Esports bettors have been cashing in too, as our story on the big Team Vitality payout shows.

Tennis suits live betting because momentum can flip in a few points, as this match proved. Markets like set winner let you react as the action swings. Our Stake sportsbook review breaks down the markets, odds and features in more detail.

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Alcaraz is through to the second round in Vienna, and the Paris Masters starts next week. There's plenty of tennis left to bet on before the season wraps up.