MADRID, 24 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz suffered a lot this Monday to overcome his debut in the Basel tournament (Switzerland), scoring for the ATP and which is played on an indoor hard court, by defeating the British Jack Draper in three sets (3-6, 6 -2, 7-5), in what was his first tour victory as world number one.
Although the Murcian had already won a match, in the Davis Cup, with this condition, he had not yet achieved it in an ATP event, with a defeat in Astana against the Belgian David Goffin. At Roger Federer’s house, Juan Carlos Ferrero’s pupil sweated for more than two and a quarter hours to get rid of a rival who pushed him to the limit.
In fact, Draper started very ‘plugged in’ and completely dominated the Spaniard, who could not impose his tennis and his service, almost always demanded and who lost too soon. The Englishman, with an advantage on the scoreboard, increased his confidence and despite the fact that Alcaraz was getting involved and had options to recover the ‘break’ at 4-3, he ended up giving up the sleeve, delivering his second serve.
However, that improvement in the final stages was transferred by the first seed of the tournament to the second set. The US Open champion recovered the best version of him and completely dismantled a Draper who was seen with a devastating 4-0 down, impossible to recover against the Murcian’s tennis.
The one from El Palmar continued firm at the start of the third and final set. He broke in game five to grab a lead that looked like he wouldn’t let go, but the Brit didn’t lose focus and didn’t miss his chance in game eight to level the clash again.
Draper forced Alcaraz to serve to avoid being eliminated. The world number one, very sharp at the net in this set, held the pressure well and then broke again to finish on his serve. Draper was able to lift two match points and have another two to get the ‘break’, but the Murcian knew how to sentence him to the second round.