Alcaraz makes his first match at Roland Garros

In order to enter the second week of Roland Garros, Carlos Alcaraz played against Denis Shapovalov. In his strongest performance so far at the tournament, the Spaniard martyred the Canadian (6-1, 6-4, 6-2) and signed a passage to the round of 16, where the Italian Lorenzo Musetti awaits him.

As is the trend in the tournament, Alcaraz emerged as a steamroller in Philippe Chatrier and played a first set seen and unseen. In a little more than half an hour, he put the cards on the table for Shapovalov, who could only spread his arms and with a resigned smile celebrate the victory in his first game after 32 minutes. Alcaraz had two opportunities to score a ‘doughnut’, but Shapovalov held on and took a dose of self-confidence that he applied at the beginning of the second set.

He stopped being a foul machine and tied the game. He needed five break points to break Alcaraz’s serve and take the lead. And then the carousel of ‘breaks’ started, one for each player, but always ahead of the Canadian, who takes a 1-4 advantage on the scoreboard. More than half the set in the pocket, but that, against Alcaraz, means nothing. Above all, because Shapovalov was a bloodbath of double faults – he made up to ten in the game – but also of unforced errors. He scored 19 in the second quarter, most of them on 1-4 shooting. He completely fell apart in front of Alcaraz who always found the line and who took advantage of Shapovalov’s shortcomings, too demanding in his shots, too much effort without control and a constant feeling of wasted talent.

While Alcaraz surprised with his ability to paint the ball on the line despite hitting it on the run and two meters above the baseline, Shapovalov let himself go. So it fit psychologically ‘rosco’. Six games in a row for the Spaniard, who led 2-0 in the third set and had opportunities to further increase his lead.

Given that the night in Paris was increasingly closed, Alcaraz this time did not suffer the consequences of the failure of the second ‘break’ and accelerated from 2-1 without braking. Murcian achieved his 33rd victory this year and 33rd at the Grand Slam, and a year later he returns to the second week of Roland Garros.

“I felt great, I played at a good level the whole game. I struggled a bit in the second set, I made more mistakes than in the other sets, but I had to be there, mentally strong. I knew I would have a chance to come back. I am very satisfied with today’s level and I hope to be able to transfer it to the next round”, said Alcaraz at the foot of the track, who was interviewed by Marion Bartoli.

Alcaraz’s opponent this Sunday in the round of 16 will be Lorenzo Musetti, who did not give British Cameron Norrie an option (6-1, 6-2 and 6-4). The Italian, who won three matches without losing a set, already knows what it’s like to beat Alcaraz, and he managed to do that in the final in Hamburg last year. The Spaniard still beat him in the semi-finals of the 2020 Challenger in Trieste. In other results on Friday, Novak Djokovic defeated Alejandro Davidovich, Lorenzo Sonego, Andrei Rublev, Karen Khachanov, Thanasi Kokkinakis and Stefanos Tsitsipas, Diego Schwartzman.