(Madrid) The Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, world second player and title holder at the Madrid Masters 1000, was roughed up on Friday for his entry into the tournament by the Finn and 41st in the world Emil Ruusuvuori, but ended up winning in three sets of 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.
The ocher of Madrid, which had smiled so much on him last season, this time gave him cold sweats: the young phenomenon from Murcia lost the first leg, victim of errors in his game, and continued to suffer from his inaccuracies until the middle of the second set, where he finally broke the Finn at 4-3.
Ruusuvuori’s serve challenged the 19-year-old Spaniard, but a devastating forehand gave him a 5-3 lead in the third set and awoke the crowd to chants of “Si se puede!” (“Yes, it’s possible!”, in Spanish).
“Very happy to get out of a match like this in front of this audience,” Alcaraz reacted after his match, emphasizing the importance of a passing pass that turned the tide in the second set.
“It was lucky, let’s say that (laughs). He went to the net, and I could only do that, it was my one and only and recourse. Luckily, it happened. And from there, I gained confidence, it was necessary to be patient, but I started to go upmarket”, summed up the prodigy.
Alcaraz, winner of the ATP 250 tournament in Barcelona on Sunday, will face Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov (32nd in the world) in the third round, who barely overcame Frenchman Grégoire Barrère (56th in the world) 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/2).
For his part, the Norwegian Casper Ruud, 4th in the world and seeded N.3 in Madrid, was eliminated dryly as soon as he entered the running in the second round of the tournament by the young Italian Matteo Arnaldi (105th in the world) 6-3, 6 -4.
Arnaldi, 22 and from qualifying, will face in the third round the Spaniard Jaume Munar (88th in the world), qualified after the abandonment of the Dutch veteran Tallon Griekspoor after the first heat.
“The ball is bouncing so high!” I didn’t like it at first, I had to fight to get used to it. But today (Friday, editor’s note), I don’t know why, maybe because of the stadium, maybe because of the pressure on him, I played the best match of my life.” reacted the young Italian after his match, filled.
The Russian Andrey Rublev, 6th in the world and recent winner in Monte-Carlo, for his part defeated the Swiss Stan Wawrinka 7-5, 6-4 in one hour and seventeen minutes for his first match in the tournament.
Wawrinka, 38, disposed of American Maxime Cressy in the snatch on Wednesday 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), after three years of absence on ocher Madrid for injuries.