The young player from Murcia is in the top eight in Paris for the first time and will meet Zverev
After the undue suffering that Rafa Nadal’s classification into the quarter-finals of Roland Garros meant, Carlos Alcaraz got his ticket to the round that brings together the top eight of the tournament with astonishing ease. In a performance that recalls why the Murcian is one of the favorites to win the cup on June 5, Alcaraz defeated Karen Khachanov (6-1, 6-4, 6-4) to reach the quarter-finals in Paris.
After the doubts he left in his second round match against Albert Ramos, Alcaraz has taken two clean wins, without dropping a single set, against two rivals, first Sebastian Korda and now Khachanov, of sufficient level to suggest that what happened to him Catalan tennis player, when he had to save a match point, it was no more than a minor setback. Forgotten the fright, the best Alcaraz appeared again, the one who practices with an iron fist on a track as if he were a member of the ‘Big Three’.
Despite Alcaraz being his first round of 16 at Roland Garros and second at Grand Slam, after that of the US Open in 2021, Alcaraz scored very well on the track left by the battle between Nadal and Felix Auger-Aliassime. The rhythm was good and he always took the initiative, both on the track and on the scoreboard.
He won the first five games, taking 12 of the first 14 points, with a statement of intent that held up over time. Khachanov, a former student of the Spanish Galo Blanco and silver medalist in Tokyo, gradually recovered after the hesitant start, but was unable to play a second set in which Alcaraz made the difference with only two break chances. Khachanov heaved a sigh of relief at solving the first, but the second cost him part of it.
The Russian had managed to neutralize the tennis advantage on the court, but only grew on the scoreboard. Alcaraz took the advantage in the third inning for two sets and 3-1, when Moscow counterattacked two games in a row and broke the Spaniard’s serve for the first time.
A wake-up call to which Alcaraz responded quickly and in the next game broke Khachanov’s set with one of the points of the tournament. First with a volley in the form of a wall in the net and then with a ‘willy’ (hit between the legs) who overtook the Russian and gave him the point and the ‘break’. Khachanov laughed ironically as the audience exploded at Philippe Chatrier’s screams of “Carlos, Carlos.”
The point was the penalty for Khachanov, who fell three games later to open Alcaraz for the quarterfinals, where Alexander Zverev waits. The German defeated Bernabé Zapata, the revelation of the tournament, 7-6 (11), 7-5 and 6-3 and will face Alcaraz for the fourth time. The German won the first two matches, both on hard courts, while the last, in the final in Madrid, was won by the Spaniard. The winner of this match will face the winner of the match Novak Djokovic-Rafa Nadal in the semifinals.
Source: La Verdad
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