MADRID, 13 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz has successfully made his debut at the Rome tournament, the fifth ATP Masters 1,000 of the season and played on clay, after beating his compatriot Albert Ramos (6-4, 6-1) this Saturday, a result that is enough to recover the number one in the world.
The Murcian needed an hour and 25 minutes to get rid of the Catalan, who forced him to react in the first set after breaking his first serve. However, after disputing the first point, he confirmed his rise to the top of the ATP ranking, which will take effect on May 22.
The man from El Palmar arrived at the Foro Itálico just five points behind number one up to now, the Serbian Novak Djokovic, who will not be able to score points in Rome and can only defend the 1,000 achieved last year by lifting the trophy; Thus, only with the 10 points for participating -in 2022 he did not play the tournament-, Alcaraz returns to the top of the table for the third time in his career at the age of 20.
However, Ramos -who had a negative balance of 3-0 against his rival this Saturday- demanded a ‘Carlitos’ forced to respond to the ‘break’ with which the Barcelonan opened the clash. He did it in the fourth game, and another break in the tenth allowed him to win the first set.
He no longer gave up his serve in a second set in which he went ahead 3-0 and defended against up to three break points in the fourth game. In the sixth, he again broke Ramos’ serve and closed the game at his first opportunity.
Now, the Spaniard, who celebrated his 120th victory on the circuit, awaits a rival in the third round in the winner of the duel between the Czech Jiri Lehecka and the Hungarian Fabian Marozsan, who will also meet this Saturday.