Alcaraz dismisses Musetti and enters the quarterfinals of Roland Garros

It was the most complicated duel so far in this Roland Garros and Carlos Alcaraz he passed it with excellent marks. The Spaniard, returning on the day of the tournament in Paris, defeated the Italian Lorenzo Musetti, one of his contemporary rivals, 6-3, 6-2 and 6-2, and is already in the quarterfinals, where he will meet the winner of the duel between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Sebastian Ofner. With Novak Djokovic already in the semi-finals – the Serb managed to defeat Juan Pablo Varillas in three sets – the semi-final between the two big favorites is getting closer.

Alcaraz, who has more or less three victories on the track against tennis players without much argument to really compete with him in this match, met this Sunday with Musetti, whom he knows very well from his youth and who defeated him in the final. in Hamburg last year.

It was not a gift from a box Musettiwho already won this year Djokovic in clay, in Monte Carlo, and he did it in a brilliant start in which he took away the Spaniard’s serve in the first two games and confirmed his serve. The game went uphill for Alcaraz, who was already behind against Flavi Cobolli (third set), against Tar Daniel (second set) and against Denis Shapovalov (second set), but always ahead on the scoreboard and already shooting. It was the first time at this Roland Garros that a rival came out in command.

And Alcaraz didn’t mind that. He accepted his opponent’s biggest blow and started the match. He attacked the Italian’s backhand, nicely one-handed but inconsistently, and reached every drop shot that challenged him. On many occasions of past revolutions, Musetti had impeccable aesthetics, but little penetration and competitiveness when it came down to it. As soon as Alcaraz neutralized the minus, the Italian disappeared. He went on an eight-to-one streak and the desperation that made him send the ball out of the stadium after losing a point came out. He was angry with himself, because he couldn’t fight, but he didn’t manage to transfer that anger to his racket and get something positive out of it.

And Nole easily wins

With two sets already lost and no way to get the public on his side, it was a pipe dream to think that Musetti could become the first tennis player to come back from 2-0 down against Alcaraz at a Grand Slam. Something is missing for this 21-year-old Italian to dream of those successes, something that Alcaraz has, who did not stop attacking the ball and looking for the winning shot until the end of the match.

With two hours and eight minutes, it was enough for Alcaraz to perform his toughest test of the first week at Roland Garros and enter the last part of the tournament with all possible guarantees.

Djokovic, the second big favorite in the men’s draw, was also in no hurry to enter the quarterfinals and won one of the surprises of the tournament, John Paul Varillas, by 6-3, 6-2 and 6-2. The Peruvian, who reached this match after three consecutive five-set matches, couldn’t hold on any longer and succumbed to Djokovic, who added his 17th quarterfinal at Roland Garros, one more than Rafael Nadal. The Serb will face Karen Khachanova, who brought back the Italian Lorenzo Sonego (1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7) and 6-1).