Ramos and Zapata also win in the second round and will face each other
MADRID, 24 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz came back (6-7(5), 6-2, 6-4) against the Italian Fabio Fognini this Thursday to stay alive in the title defense in Rio de Janeiro, an ATP 500 tournament where he entered the quarterfinals. final like Albert Ramos and Bernabé Zapata, who will have a direct Spanish duel for being in the semifinals.
Alcaraz got up from a bad first set, which he was able to get back on track with two 4-0 balls, mentally and in a game that he is having a hard time getting out in his second tournament in 2023. The recent champion in Buenos Aires, after more than 100 days overcoming two injuries, he had a difficult debut on Brazilian soil and against Fognini he started badly, but he grew.
The Murcian missed a lot, he had no rhythm in his legs and he didn’t serve well either. After letting go at 4-0, he began to miss a lot of first serves, irregular in his game. The Italian wasn’t too much either and lost his serve four more times, but in the ‘tie-break’ he turned a 5-4 situation around to win the set.
Alcaraz returned to the charge in the second and this time he did finish the script he had sought before, with a 4-0 lead that put him on the way to a third act. Fognini, a classic of this tournament who lost the final in 2015 against David Ferrer, still had an ace up his sleeve, even losing again in the final set.
The Italian went back to look for his options with a ‘break’ to cut back (3-1) and won more than one good exchange. All in all, Alcaraz maintained the level that had cost him so much to achieve to score an important victory. Like last year in the semifinals, the Murcian defeated Fognini en route to the title in Rio, which would be the eighth of his career.
In the quarterfinals, Juan Carlos Ferrero’s pupil will face the winner of the Serbian cross between Laslo Djere and Dusan Lajovic. Alcaraz, the first seed, will be accompanied by fellow Spaniards Zapata and Ramos, after they beat Argentine Francisco Cerúndolo (6-1, 4-6, 6-1) and Colombian Daniel Galán (6-2, 6- 4) also this Thursday.
The Valencian exhibited his great moment before one of his victims last week in the tournament in Buenos Aires, where he reached a ‘semis’ that he will look for in Brazil against Ramos. The Catalan aspires to that level of confidence at the start of the season, but in the win without discussion against Galán he showed that he was not far from a good version.
Meanwhile, the second round was the last game for the Spanish Pedro Martínez, who lost (6-2, 6-2) against the Chilean Nicolás Jarry in a match where the Valencian lost the first game of both sets and was not close to victory. comeback.