Internazionali d'Italia: Carlos Alcaraz to the quarters, but what a struggle against Karen Khachanov
It certainly wasn’t a smooth round of 16 for Carlos Alcaraz at the Internazionali d’Italia in Rome. Indeed, the young Murcian champion got the better of Karen Khachanov only after two and a half hours of play: 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 was the score that rewarded Alcaraz, who will face Jack Draper in the quarters.
Against the world number 24, No. 3 Alcaraz started off strong, immediately earning a game on his opponent’s serve: Khachanov was good at fighting back and recovering to 3-3, but the winner of Roland Garros and Wimbledon in 2024 had no problem pressing on the accelerator again, winning three games in a row to close out the set in his favor.
The second fraction also seemed to smile on the Murcian, who went ahead by a break at 3-2, but Khachanov responded in a peremptory manner by signing a partial four games to zero, two of which on Alcaraz’s serve, thus taking the match on the clay of the Foro Italico to the third and decisive set.
A fraction that Alcaraz began with his foot firmly pressed on the accelerator, so much so as to lead 4-1, but which saw Khachanov recover the break disadvantage and get up to 5-5, also starting the eleventh game with a one-point lead. At a distance, however, Alcaraz emerged, first regaining the initial disadvantage by going on to win 6-5, then closing with the decisive break by taking advantage of the second match ball. For the class of 2003 it was certainly a more suffered success than the previous ones against Lajovic and Djere, but one that propels him among the best eight in the last Masters 1000 of the season on clay.
