After a complicated transition from dirt to grass in the first round, Carlos Alcaraz, 2nd in the world, found his feet on Thursday at the expense of the Czech Jiri Lehecka (36th) whom he beat 6-2, 6-3 to reach his first quarter final on grass, at Queen’s in London.
“I am very happy. I had a very solid game. I played my game and I enjoyed playing here, and I’m very happy with this first qualification in the quarterfinals on grass, I’m going to enjoy it. I’ve built up confidence and I’m going to get the half!” commented the 20-year-old Spaniard. He will face for a place in the last four the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov (26th), who defeated the Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo (19th) 6-3, 7-5.
Tuesday in the first round, Alcaraz had the greatest difficulty in getting rid of the French Arthur Rinderknech, 83rd and drafted from the qualifications, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/3). He then assured that this victory was a “very good performance” because he was playing his very first game on grass of the season. But Thursday, he was much more confident in his support, moved much better and his shots were all the more effective to win in 1h25 on his third match point, the second on his service.
Alcaraz, winner of the US Open 2022, had only played two grass tournaments so far, at Wimbledon in 2021 (loss in the 2nd round) and in 2022 (loss in the round of 16). The Spaniard has reached at least the semi-finals in seven of the eight tournaments played this year (he was beaten in the third round in Rome).
