The Spanish Carlos Alcaraz suffered more than expected to win in his debut at the Rio de Janeiro Open against the Brazilian Matthew Alves, who occupies position 556 in the ATP classification and whom he defeated 6-4, 6-4 in a match that began on Tuesday and ended this Wednesday due to rain.
Alcaraz, defending champion, number 2 in the world and who has just won the Argentine Open title, had a hard time lubricating the machinery on the clay of the Brazilian Jockey Club against a rival invited by the organization.
After the match was suspended Tuesday due to rain When he was winning 6-4 and 5-3, the Spaniard needed less than five minutes this Wednesday to confirm his victory in a match of one hour and 56 minutes.
The current US Open champion will meet Italian in the round of 16 in Rio Fabio Fognini (86 ATP), who beat Chilean Marcelo Barrios Vera (196 ATP) 6-2, 6-3 in a match that lasted one hour and 30 minutes.
Fognini, who was a finalist for the Rio Open in 2015 after beating Rafael Nadal in the semifinals, he was precisely the victim of Alcaraz in the semifinals in Brazil last year, when the Murcian won his first ATP tournament title.
The Italian also had to resume on Wednesday a game that was suspended due to rain on Tuesday, when he won 6-2 and 6-5.
On his debut in Rio in 2023 after the title in 2020, the script did not turn out as expected for the Murcian. Alves made a first blank break and went 0-2 to the revelry of an incredulous public.
The Spaniard reacted quickly and in the sequence he recovered the break. 2-2.
Overcome the scare, the two tennis players maintained their serves until the seventh game, when Alcaraz broke the Brazilian’s resistance to get 4-3 to serve.
Supported by the local public, Alves did not give up the set and forced the Spaniard to win their serves to take a first round that lasted 49 minutes.
Despite being behind on the scoreboard first and foremost a grand slam championthe young Brazilian promise did not lower his arms at the start of the second set.
He started by winning his serve and he came to scare Alcaraz by equaling the rest 40-0.
Alves ran a lot on the right and the number 2 in the world had a hard time scoring first serves.
The impetus of the young promise of Sao Jose do Rio Preto He stayed alive until the fifth game of the second set, when he lost his serve due to a couple of masterful shots from Alcaraz.
It was a mirage, because the one born in Palmar he did not hold the break and allowed Alves to tie the set at three.
At that moment, the game stopped for a few moments to evict part of the public from the Jockey Club for security reasons before the numerous lightning bolts that illuminated the sky of the capital of Fluminense, and it started to rain lightly.
I wine them badly changing weather conditions Alves, who lost his serve in agony and allowed Alcaraz to get 4-3 and serving.
The rain became more intense and the game had to be suspended at the moment when Alcaraz was preparing to subtract to closer the game with 5-3 in their favor.
This Wednesday, at the restart, Alves confirmed his service and discounted to 5-4, pBut the Spaniard also confirmed his without losing any points to win the set 6-4 and the match 2-0.