Alcaraz's Comeback Gaining Steam In Buenos Aires

Carlos Alcaraz’s comeback continues to gain steam in Buenos Aires.

The World No. 2 advanced to the Argentina Open semi-finals on Friday evening when he defeated Dusan Lajovic 6-4, 6-2. The Spaniard will next face Bernabe Zapata Miralles.

“I think I played really, really well from the beginning until the last ball, the last point,” Alcaraz said. “I knew that it was going to be really, really difficult. Dusan is playing great on clay, [he is] a great player, a really tough one.”

Entering the week, Alcaraz had not played a match since last year’s Rolex Paris Masters because of an internal oblique muscle tear. But he has shown no signs of discomfort in Argentina. To the contrary, he is improving by the game.

“I had to be really, really solid from deep in the court,” Alcaraz said. “My second match of the year and I’m really happy with my performance.”

Alcaraz used a little bit of everything in the match, from impressive backhand passing shots to his typically devastating drop shots. He played his best tennis towards the end of the second set, showing enough confidence to increase the aggression against the Serbian.

Lajovic is an experienced clay-court opponent who made an ATP Masters 1000 final on the surface at the 2019 Rolex Monte Carlo Masters. But the 32-year-old was unable to find ways to make Alcaraz uncomfortable on Court Guillermo Vilas.

The top seed was not perfect in his performance, but Alcaraz used his wide range of skills and competitive spirit to apply constant pressure, winning 53 per cent of his return points and converting five of 10 break points to triumph after one hour and 34 minutes.

The last match of Friday’s evening session bled into early Saturday morning with Spaniard Zapata Miralles outlasting home favourite Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3. The two-hour, 33-minute quarter-final finished after 1 a.m. in Buenos Aires.

The late night comes with a great reward for Zapata Miralles: his first tour-level semi-final and a guaranteed career-high Pepperstone ATP Ranking come Monday. Following his quarter-final victory, the 26-year-old is at No. 63 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, eight spots higher than his previous career-high, which he reached last month. Zapata Miralles will next clash against his countryman Alcaraz, who won their first tour-level meeting at Roland Garros in 2021. Zapata Miralles scored a win against the teen on the ATP Challenger Tour in 2020, when they met in the Cordenons Challenger final.

World No. 30 Cerundolo will rue his missed opportunities throughout the quarter-final. The Argentine won just two of 12 break points earned and failed to convert any of his five break chances in the final set.