It was a deceptive debut for Carlos Alcaraz in Shanghai. A tricky transition between Beijing and the most populated city in China: same country, same time zone and same area, but more than 1,000 kilometers separate the two cities. The jump between tournaments in the middle of the week, unlike what happens the rest of the season, has wreaked havoc: almost a dozen seeds have fallen before the round of 32, even though the second round has not yet ended.
So the only objective for the Murcian was to fulfill and forget the bitter end in Beijing, where he ended up defeated and angry in the semifinals against Jannik Sinner. And he did it: Alcaraz quickly got rid of Frenchman Gregoire Barrere (6-2, 7-5) and will be able to rest on Sunday while he waits for Mikhail Kukushkin or Daniel Evans in the third round.
Despite the pain of elimination in Beijing, Carlos Alcaraz is more comfortable on the indoor court than in the last two years. On his first Asian tour, he has adapted well and wanted to regain his sensations against Barrere with an authoritative start. The Murcian broke his rival’s serve at the first opportunity and went up to 4-0 on the scoreboard.
However, the French tennis player let go little by little and, in turn, Alcaraz suffered some moments of disconnection in which he committed two double faults and some errors. The game, in general, was more even than the first set score showed, and Barrere confirmed it in a long second set. Alcaraz even lost his serve when he was close to closing, but he reacted in time and even allowed himself the luxury of hitting with his back on match point.
Alcaraz will not know until Sunday who he will play his round of 32 match against on Monday. The Kazakh veteran Mikhail Kukushkin, who comes from the previous round, will face Daniel Evans in the second round of the day, a British tennis player whom Ferrero’s pupil has beaten three times, two of them this season.
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