Carlos Alcaraz struggles as Jannik Sinner: "I was saved"

Like Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz also suffered in the round of 16 of the Monte Carlo Masters 1000: the world number one won in three sets with the scores of 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 over Argentine Tomás Martín Etcheverry, who made the Murcian suffer more than expected.

The match traced the one between Sinner and Machac: after a very strong start, the Spaniard dropped conspicuously in the second set, where he came out beaten, and then recovered in the third resolving the match. “It is incredible what he is doing and I have great admiration for him. For my part, I’m happy to have saved a match that I had under control but that got complicated in the final.”

“But these are important matches, where maybe you lose the feeling and the rhythm but you manage to make up for it and find the right solution to win. It gives me a lot of confidence for the next round,” Alcaraz explained at the press conference.

“Etcheverry is a very difficult opponent to beat, especially on clay, because he is a real fighter. I have a lot of respect for everything he has accomplished in tournaments and on the circuit; he is impressive. We met for the first time in a Challenger in 2020, and now on the Central Court in Monte Carlo.”

Alcaraz will face Bublik in the quarterfinals: he has no previous record with the Kazakh. “We will see who has the better drop shot. We’ve never played before and we’ve only practiced once.” The Iberian is struggling not to lose the number one ATP ranking to Jannik Sinner, who will return to the top if he wins the tournament in the Principality, or if he makes it to the finals if Carlos is eliminated early in the quarters or semifinals.