ATP Madrid: Carlos Alcaraz turns match against strong Ruusuvuori, Rublev beats Wawrinka
Carlos Alcaraz (ATP No. 2) survived his opening match at the Masters tournament in Madrid - with considerable difficulty. Meanwhile, Andrey Rublev was successful against Stan Wawrinka.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Apr 28, 2023, 06:29 pm
The reason: Emil Ruusuvuori, because he played excellent tennis for a set and a half! Specifically, he led 6: 2 and 3: 2 and was close to the possibly decisive break. But Alcaraz fended off five break chances, equalized and broke himself - from then on the 19-year-old had the match under control.
In the third set he managed to break again right at the beginning - the decision: 2: 6, 6: 4 and 6: 2 it was at the end. Nevertheless, a very strong performance by the Finn, currently number 41 in the ATP ranking.
Alcaraz now meets Grigor Dimitrov, who beat Gregoire Barrere 7: 6 (6), 7: 6 (2).
Rublev and Wawrinka play Schnick-Schnack-Schnuck
Previously, Andrey Rublev, who was seeded fifth, had already reached the third round after beating Stan Wawrinka 7: 5, 6: 4 - in a correspondingly highly anticipated early duel in the 1000 tournament.
The beginning was particularly amusing here: The digital coin toss stuck and Rublev finally convinced Wawrinka, laughing, to fight the decision on serve/side choice simply with rock-paper-scissors. Splendid! And the question must be allowed: Why isn't a fundamental decision made according to this principle?
Hanfmann takes Musetti out!
In the German-German duel between Daniel Altmaier and Oscar Otte , the former had retained the upper hand ; Yannick Hanfmann celebrated a big surprise against Lorenzo Musetti, who was so strong recently. Altmaier and Hanfmann now meet.
Surprisingly eliminated: Casper Ruud against the Italian youngster Matteo Arnaldi.
In the evening Alexander Zverev will appear for the first time, he meets Roberto Carballes Baena - here in the live ticker !
And Dominic Thiem: Has the honor tomorrow Friday - against Stefanos Tsitsipas.