Tommy Paul, Carlos Alcaraz’s first rival in Montreal

The American tommy paul25 years old and world number 34, has surpassed the local tennis player Vasek Pospisil (6-4, 6-4) and this Wednesday will be the first opponent of Carlos Alcaraz (4th) in Masters 1,000 of Montreal (Canada).

The Murcian, seeded second, will begin the American tour on hard courts after conceding two consecutive defeats weeks ago in his two summer tournaments on clay, both against Italian rivals, Lorenzo Musetti in hamburg Y Jannik Sinner in moldwhere he broke his ATP record last year.

Alcaraz added four more titles this season, his definitive emergence as a high-flying tennis player, two Masters 1,000s (Miami, Madrid) and two ATP 500s (Río, Barcelona).

Carlos returned to hard court tournaments after his sensational performance in the early part of the season, when he won 12 of his 14 matches on this surface and captured his first Masters 1,000 category title.

His only two losses came Matteo Berrettini in the 3rd round of the Australian Open, all five sets were lost, and Rafael Nadal in the semifinals of Indian Wells, also squeezing all three sets. Alcaraz has an overall balance this year of 42 wins and seven losses.

Alcaraz has yet to face Tommy Paul, who is completing the best season of his career, continuing the jump made in 2021, when he won his first title in Stockholm going the way of tennis players of the stature of Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe. This year, in Indian Wells, he lost Alexander Zverev in the 2nd round of Indian Wells.

The American has a total of 26 wins and 19 losses in 2022: the semifinals of Delray Beach and six rounds of the quarterfinals were his best results, an uncomfortable test for Alcaraz in what are always delicate debuts at any tournament.