Carlos Alcaraz showed scant sign of feeling home pressure on Tuesday in his opening match at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, where the World No. 2 raced past Nuno Borges 6-3, 6-1 at the ATP 500.
The 19-year-old is bidding to successfully defend a tour-level title for the first time this week in Catalunya and took a confident first step towards that goal with a hard-hitting display against the No. 79-ranked Borges. Alcaraz was sharp on return off both wings throughout the 63-minute encounter and converted five of seven break points to improve to 19-2 for the season.
“I feel great. Playing here in Barcelona, [my] first match on clay since Rio [in February],” said Alcaraz. “I feel great. Moving well, hitting the ball really well so I feel a lot of confidence playing here in Barcelona. It’s a really special place for me.”
Prior to their match, Borges had spoken about being impressed by the 16-year-old Alcaraz’s ‘huge hitting’ at a tournament in Spain three years ago. He was soon reacquainted with Alcaraz’s clean ballstriking on Pista Rafa Nadal, where the home favourite quickly opened a 5-1 lead.
Alcaraz had not competed since Miami in March after missing last week’s Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters due to post-traumatic arthritis in his left hand and muscular discomfort in the spine. There were some signs of rustiness from the Spaniard, and uncharacteristic unforced errors helped Borges reclaim a break in the eighth game. That was as good as it got for the 26-year-old, however. Alcaraz dropped just one more game in the match to improve to 6-1 at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona-1899.
The top seed, who has lifted titles in Buenos Aires and Indian Wells already this year, faces fellow Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut in the third round in Catalunya. The 13th seed beat Bernabe Zapata Miralles 6-2, 6-2 for the right to take on the defending champion.
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Another Spaniard, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, also progressed to the third round on Tuesday. The 10th seed downed Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-3, 6-3 to claim his first main-draw win in Barcelona at the third attempt. Davidovich Fokina next faces Emil Ruusuvuori, who rallied from 0-3 in the final set to upset fifth seed Frances Tiafoe 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-4.
Feliciano Lopez, making his 22nd and final appearance in Barcelona before he retires this year, battled hard but ultimately fell to David Goffin on Pista Rafa Nadal. The Belgian prevailed 7-6(3), 6-7(4), 6-0, and will next take on 16th seed Yoshihito Nishioka.
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