Carlos Alcaraz sweats but flies to the round of 16 and warns Jannik Sinner

He had shown up a full nine hours ahead of his match&#8217s start time, Carlos Alcaraz. The reason, at the request of Alexander Zverev, who at the Forum in those hours was finishing the last details ahead of the match that awaited him against Dellien, was the ‘Spanish clasico‘ between Barcelona and Real that the Murcian would like to enjoy in peace. And so training in the morning, siesta con futbol in the afternoon and Laslo Djere in the evening, looking for a victory that would open the door for him for the round of 16. The result was a two-set victory – 76(2) 62 – as predicted, which the Murcian first had to build on in the first set when Djere, a veteran in his late thirties with four career titles on clay, tried hard to bring the damp and cold conditions of the Roman evening to his side.

More than game plan, the strategy resembled a prayer as much in play as in expectation. The break snatched at the start did indeed catch the Murcian off guard, but to that Djere was unable to add strokes and tightness capable of consolidating it. And so Alcaraz, a little bit’ at a time, was able to get into the match, read the conditions of the Central fruitfully and finally make his greater carat count. That he managed to do so only in the final bars of a tie-break that the Serb forced him into might have suggested a match that still had something to say in terms of tightness and consistency of performance on the Spaniard’s part. But already at the change of court, with Djere grappling with a medical time out for a problem with his conspicuously bandaged right arm, hope seemed to fade even before operations resumed.

Won the first four games of the second partial, however, it became clear that by now the script of the match was already headed toward the expected denouement, an easy victory for the Murcian with an eighth final against Karen Khachanov as a dowry. And Alcaraz, having shaken off the last of his uncertainties and ensured that he still had the level in his arm and legs necessary to make his status count in the remainder of the tournament, was good and mature not to overdo it and to conduct the contest without unnecessary risks.

“It’s been a tough start, I have to be honest, I struggled to find my rhythm, he played really solid in the first set and I couldn–t find a way to challenge him,– said Alcaraz at the end of the match – When he served for the first set I told myself to stay focused and try to build chances and I am glad I succeeded, Then in the second set I played better, took advantage of my chances and I can say I am happy with this win. I tried to come back from the injury in the best possible way but I didn&#8217t think about it, hp preferred just to focus on what I had to do. Now it is going to get tougher and tougher and that is why I am happy to have won this match in two sets”.