Carlos Alcaraz knocks down Jarry and enters the round of 16 at Wimbledon

Carlos Alcaraz he armed himself with patience and finished by dipping the gunpowder Nicholas Jarry. “I knew my chances would come,” mused the Spaniard, relishing the trap he had just avoided in the third round Wimbledon (6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-3 and 7-5). An obstacle in the shape of a cannon with the surname Jarry, which forced Alcaraz to fight for almost four hours to return to the round of 16 Grand Slam British.

Alcaraz needed an exercise in reason and continuous waiting to knock out a tennis player with a more than clear scheme. “I know he’s human and I know I can hurt him,” commented the Chilean in the preview, with a good precedent from the semifinals in Rio in February, when he did not win, but took a set from the Spaniard. It was, moreover, on clay, the surface on which the Chilean grew up but not where his game was at its best, based on a strong serve that was favored by the rain in London.

With the sky black and raindrops falling, the track roof closed and Jarry’s whip began to sound. The spectacle of serves and lightning that forced Alcaraz to refine his senses and must be permanently connected. Any failure is amplified and could cost a set. Who knows if more. The key was the efficiency in the first set of the Spaniard, who had the opportunity to do so break and that won him the first set. It was the right way, to hold serve and wait for the opportunity, but the match was a blur and Jarry came out strong.

He led 1-4 in the second set and forced Alcaraz to come back, until the tiebreak in which the Chilean, after saving the set point with a more than dubious volley, turned the set in his favor. The Spaniard lost a set for the first time in the tournament. It was necessary to withstand the shower of artillery fire and wait for it to subside.

And Alcaraz made an excellent third set, with only five unforced errors and the feeling that he was hitting the table and killing the game. However, Jarry decided not to go. He held on to his powerful swing and built up a 0-3 lead, otherwise lethal on the fastest surface of all. But one thing happens, that Jarry is not final. His online game is bad and his rights, when they don’t go to the desired level, have been a drama. He self-destructed with childish shots and incomprehensible mistakes and allowed a stubborn Alcaraz to resurface with a 7-2 run.

Victory and a ticket to the round of 16, a round in which the first coconut in the draw will be waiting for him, Berrettini (Monday, time to be confirmed, Movistar+).