The player from El Palmar, who could meet the man from Manacor in the semifinals, will debut against Basilashvili or McDonald
The Murcian Carlos Alcaraz arrives at the ATP Masters 1000 in Cincinnati (United States) wanting to redeem himself after what happened in Montreal and will need his best level to go far and gain the necessary confidence for the US Open 2022, his great objective this North American hard court tour. He will need the best version of him if he wants to go far in a tournament that starts tomorrow and in which he will be demanding from the start, with a very important rival appearing on the horizon in the third round, such as the Croatian Marin Cilic. In the quarters, he could have a very difficult matchup against a hot-headed Casper Ruud.
And in a hypothetical semifinals, Rafa Nadal would be measured, who returns to the competition in Cincinnati and goes on the same side of the Alcaraz draw. After losing in his debut in Montreal against Tommy Paul and admitting that for the first time he had not been able to handle the pressure, Carlitos returns to the track with that lesson learned. His debut in Cincinnati will initially be on Wednesday against Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili, who must first beat American Mackenzie McDonald in the first round.
Then the path would theoretically take him to veteran Cilic, to Casper Ruud, the Roland Garros finalist who trains at the Rafa Nadal Academy, and then to the semi-final against his idol. In the quarterfinals there could also be a face to face with Rune instead of Ruud, in what would mean a clash of the two most promising tennis players of the same generation, although the Murcian is now a few steps ahead. The Dane has been in Cincinnati these days training with Nadal.
The Murcian equals the record that Djokovic achieved in 2011 by winning at least one set in 50 consecutive matches
Carlos Alcaraz, by the way, has managed to equal Novak Djokovic’s record of chaining 50 matches winning at least one set since the start of the season. He caught up with him after winning the first set of the clash he later lost to American Tommy Paul in Montreal. The Serbian held this solo record since 2011.
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