The Murcian Carlos Alcaraz, brand new number one in men’s tennis, began the defense of his Miami Masters 1000 title with a dazzling victory against the Argentine Facundo Bagnis. The 19-year-old player from ElPalmar passed over Bagnis, 33, whom he won 6-0 and 6-2 in one hour and six minutes of play.
In Miami, Alcaraz is not only chasing the fourth Masters 1000 trophy of his brilliant career, but he is obliged to defend the 2022 title if he wants to maintain the number one ATP ‘ranking’.
The Murcian prodigy regained the world leadership, which was in the hands of Novak Djokovic, with his victory on Sunday in Indian Wells (California), the first Masters 1000 of the year. With four days off, Alcaraz returned to the track last night and had an irresistible start to the match that dismasted Bagnis, number 100 on the ATP. Rosario’s left-hander, a clay-court specialist, saw his rival start with eight consecutive points and then break his serve for the second time.
Alcaraz took the first set to white in just 22 minutes in which he only gave up seven points. The second set also began as a monologue from Juan Carlos Ferrero’s pupil, with another break at the first opportunity, but Bagnis was proud to be present on the scoreboard, scoring the ninth game.
The Argentine, who has failed to beat a ‘top 30′ of the ATP in 31 attempts, broke Carlitos’ serve in the fourth game, but Alcaraz ensured that the comeback ended in a mirage.
Schwartzman and Sinner
The Argentine Schwartzman and the Italian Jannik Sinner also comfortably settled their first crosses in Miami on Friday. Schwartzman, number 38 in the ATP, got rid of the Chinese Yibing Wu (64th) 7-6 (7/1) and 6-1 in an hour and 49 minute game. The Argentine, who was dropped in his debut at the last Masters 1000 in Indian Wells, seeks to rebuild his course after a last year in which he fell from 14th to 38th place and said he had suffered anxiety problems on the track.
Among the candidates for the title, the Italian Jannik Sinner, who lost in the Indian Wells semifinals against Alcaraz, opened with a comfortable victory against the Serbian Laslo Djere 6-4, 6-2; the American Taylor Fritz did it against his compatriot Emilio Nava by 6-4 and 6-1 and the Russian Andrey Rublev against the local JJ Wolf by 7-6 (7/3) and 6-4.
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