The Spanish Carlos Alcaraz and Rebeka Masarova they surrendered to the Belgians David Geffen and Elise Mertens (6-3 and 6-1) in just one hour and two minutes and compromised their continuation in the Hopman Cup taking place in Nice.
The Spanish couple met for the first time to decide a difficult point. Both suffered in their individual matches with mixed results. Alcaraz beat Goffin in a super tiebreak and Masarova, also in a super tiebreak, lost to Mertens. It was all undecided in a mixed doubles match that Alcaraz played for the first time in his career.
In front, Belgium He has a powerful weapon in the figure of Mertens, a doubles specialist with 20 titles in the specialty behind him, three of them Grand Slam (a US Open, an Australian Open and a Wimbledon).
The Belgian pair had the most losses after losing to their other Group B rivals on Thursday, Croatia. He needs to win the mixed doubles duel yes or yes to stay alive in the competition. For this reason, both Mertens and Goffin appeared on the court of the Nice Lawn Tennis Club in Nice hungry for victory.
In the first exchange, Masarova and Alcaraz were the first failure. Masarova dropped serve in the first game and Goffin made the break good by winning serve. Afterwards, Alcaraz remained calm and in his service he supported Spain. He made it 1-2 in the score and then, with a winning forehand off Mertens’ serve, leveled the game.
However, Masarova dropped her serve again and Spain caught up for the rest of the set, which Belgium eventually took after Alcaraz’s inexplicable error on the first of three set points that Goffin and Mertens could use.
Alcaraz blamed fatigue. The spark he showed in the individual against Goffin gradually disappeared, settling for gold points that gradually gave Belgium the advantage. She herself was in charge of directing victory in the opening game of the second set where Masarova responded with her first victory on her serve.
But Mertens never took his foot off the accelerator, he won his serve and then Alcaraz surrendered his serve with an incredible return from Goffin on his umpteenth golden point. 1-3 was a terrible blow and Spain went down to a deserved final defeat.
This Saturday, Croatia will decide the future of Alcaraz and Masarova in the Hopman Cup. Vekic and Coric wait with something between their teeth. If Spain win 3-0, they will continue in the competition. If they win 2-1, the numbers have to be worked out using the sets and games won by each team.
Source: La Verdad
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