Carlos Alcaraz came into Roland Garros declaring that he no longer felt pain in his fearsome right forearm, an injury to which had limited him to a lone appearance in Madrid during the clay-court swing. But the Spaniard conceded that he still had doubts about taking big cuts at the ball early in his return to competition.
The two-time Grand Slam champion largely cast aside any confidence concerns in a 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-3 victory over Sebastian Korda under a closed roof Friday night, with Exhibit A coming in the third game of the second set.
Chasing a sharply-angled but off-pace cross-court Korda forehand deep and wide behind the baseline, Alcaraz unleashed a ferocious 109 mph cross-court forehand winner in response, generating every watt of power contained in the statement strike.
Alcaraz would break in that game but ultimately found himself in a tie-break, where he produced Exhibit B – a down-the-line forehand blast – on set point to put his stamp on the match.
"Today was a more demanding match for me. At some point I forget about everything and I hit the forehand normally," Alcaraz said. "I think during the whole match, I hit my forehand really well, with more intensity. In the second set tie-break I hit [some good forehands]. I miss this kind of forehand, this kind of moments. I felt really well after those shots."
Corner hunting 📐👀#RolandGarros @carlosalcaraz pic.twitter.com/H3aw0lVbLe
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 31, 2024
Alcaraz earned his eighth consecutive appearance in the second week of a Grand Slam tournament after closing out the match in two hours and 39 minutes.
The Spaniard, remains on course for a semi-final showdown with second seed Jannik Sinner, but the path to a ninth Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with his young rival only gets more difficult from here.
Alcaraz was solid throughout on serve, winning 73 per cent of first serves and 65 per cent of second serves (vs. 48% for Korda) according to Infosys Stats. The players were evenly matched in extended rallies, but Alcaraz had a clear edge in 1-4 shot rallies (60 points won to 48) and in 5-8 shot rallies (37-26).
The No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings will play the winner of 15th seed Ben Shelton and 21st seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in the fourth round before a possible showdown with in-form ninth seed and three-time Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters champion Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarter-finals.
Alcaraz repeated his straight-sets 2022 victory over Korda in the Roland Garros third round to improve to 35-0 at the majors against players ranked outside the Top 20.
Playing just his seventh tournament of the year and only his second since Miami in late March, Alcaraz took up a deep returning position, including on second serves, throughout the match, which led to a series of entertaining and extended baseline duels between the pair.
Korda attempted to move into the court early in rallies, but while he often had the Spaniard on the run, low conversion when at net proved costly, with three failed net approaches costing him the decisive break in the opening set.
Alcaraz, 21, already has an edge going into his fourth-round match against the winner of Shelton and Auger-Aliassime, who will be forced to resume their rain-interrupted match deep in the first set Saturday while the Spaniard enjoys a day off.
Did You Know?
Alcaraz has reached the second week of a Grand Slam in nine of his 13 appearances at the majors.
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