The Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, world N.2 and holder of the trophy, was convincing against the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov (32nd), dismissed 6-2, 7-5, in the third round of the Masters 1000 in Madrid on Sunday.
In the round of 16, Alcaraz will face the German Alexander Zverev, former world No.2 today 16th after his serious ankle injury a year ago. The same poster as that of the final of the 2022 edition. The young phenomenon from El Palmar (in eastern Spain) had then made short work of Zverev, swallowed in 62 minutes (6- 3, 6-1).
For his entry into the running this year in the Spanish capital, Alcaraz had been roughed up: the Finn Emil Ruusuvuori (41st) had led a set to zero and had obtained break points in the second set before “Carlitos” reversed the trend (2-6, 6-4, 6-2) Friday. The recent winner of the Barcelona tournament did not experience such difficulty on Sunday evening.
Well helped by a flat start to the match, he broke straight away and pocketed the first set in about thirty minutes. In the second, where the two players showed off their touch of the ball to gratify the Madrid public with a series of spectacular exchanges, Dimitrov widened the gap first (4-2), but the winner of the US Open 2022 replied immediately, then broke one last time before finishing the game in a pile for an hour and a half on a winning drop shot.
In the absence of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, Alcaraz is the big favorite, one month from Roland-Garros (May 28-June 11).
