Carlos Alcaraz fought off a late charge from countryman Roberto Bautista Agut to notch his second straight-sets victory this week at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. The 19-year-old continued his title defence with a 6-3, 7-5 win, looking at home on the Spanish clay in his first tournament since his hard-court run to the Miami semi-finals.
"Today was really tough. The conditions, it wasn't easy," Alcaraz said of the heavy winds that led to a combined eight breaks of serve. "Of course I had to adapt my game from the wind. It was really tough. Roberto's a great player, a really solid player. I had to stay focussed all the time, be there all the time and try to take my chances."
The victory improved Alcaraz to 9-1 against fellow Spaniards, with his only loss coming to Rafael Nadal in last year's Indian Wells semis. Playing on the Barcelona centre court named for Nadal, Alcaraz is bidding to become the first repeat champion at the ATP 500 since the Spanish legend reigned from 2016-18.
He will face another Spaniard, 10th seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, in Friday's quarter-finals.
After going behind an early break at 2-3 in the opening set, Alcaraz rattled off six straight games to take command. He hit the shot of the match to bring up his third and final set point of the first set, sliding into a desperate backhand and floating a slice beyond a stunned Bautista Agut, who thought he had the point won with his overhead.
"It was lucky. Honestly I didn't expect to make that shot," Alcaraz said of the magic moment. "I just closed my eyes, [swung] the racquet. It was a lot of luck that I made that shot. Something like that is so special."
Though he was broken twice midway through set two, Alcaraz powered through the finish line by winning the final 11 points from 4-5, 15/15. He wrapped up the win in one hour, 53 minutes after breaking serve on five of 10 chances, with Bautista Agut also doing damage on return with three breaks in seven opportunities.
Bautista Agut was stopped short of his third Barcelona quarter-final (2015, 2018) as Alcaraz denied him his first Top 10 win on clay. At 35, he was the oldest player in the last 16.
Francisco Cerundolo closed Thursday's play in Barcelona with a 7-6(5), 6-3 upset of third seed Casper Ruud. The 15th-seeded Argentine improved to 4-6 lifetime against Top 10 opponents to reach his fourth quarter-final of 2023 and his first overall at the ATP 500.
Cerundolo claimed a 2-1 advantage in his ATP Head2Head with Ruud, denying the Norwegian a second straight trip to the Barcelona quarters.
In a dramatic opening set, Cerundolo battled back from 2-5, saving two set points to break Ruud in his second attempt to serve out the set at 5-4. The Argentine hung on after building a 4/0 lead in the tie-break, then moved decisively ahead with an early break in the second set.
He did not face a break point in set two, dictating with his big forehand throughout and capitalising on some uncertainty from Ruud, who has suffered second-round defeats in Monte-Carlo and Barcelona after his Estoril title run.
Cerundolo will meet 12th seed Daniel Evans in Friday's quarter-finals after the Briton's 6-3, 6-4 win against Karen Khachanov.
© Copyright 1994 - 2024 ATP Tour, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way or by any means (including photocopying, recording or storing it in any medium by electronic means), without the written permission of ATP Tour, Inc.. Terms & Conditions | Privacy | Modern Slavery Statement | Feedback | Cookies
