Carlos Alcaraz overcomes serving woes to defeat Fabio Fognini in Rio – ‘I got a little bit down’

Shahida Jacobs
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Carlos Alcaraz on the move

Carlos Alcaraz won his sixth consecutive match of the 2023 season, but he was the first to admit that his victory over Fabio Fognini was far from straightforward.

After missing the opening month and a half of the campaign due to a hamstring injury, Alcaraz made a victorious return at the Argentina Open last week as he went all the way to lift a seventh career title.

He opened the defence of his Rio Open title with an excellent two-set win over local hero Mateus Alves on Wednesday, but was tested by veteran Fognini in the quarter-final a day later.

The opening set took over an hour to complete as it had eight breaks of serve before Fognini edged the tie-breaker. Alcaraz finally found his rhythm in the second set as he broke twice to take it to a decider where he again broke twice, although the Italian got one break back.

The Spaniard emerged with a 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 6-4 victory and will face Dusan Lajovic in the last eight.

“It was really tough. Both Fabio and I played such a high level, great points, great shots,” Alcaraz said. “It’s amazing to play these kinds of matches. I would say both players played almost our 100 per cent.”

He added: “I struggled with my serve a little bit. I was up with a lot of control of the match. But a lot of breaks of serve in a row. I got a little bit down in that moment and it was tough to come back after that.

“But I know that a tennis match is really long. I was going to have my chances to improve the game on my serve and I think I did.”

Alcaraz started the year as the world No 1, but he dropped to No 2 in the ATP Rankings on the back of Novak Djokovic’s title runs at Adelaide and the Australian Open.

After winning last week’s ATP 250 event in Argentina, he has a chance to draw level with Djokovic on points this week by successfully defending his ATP 500 Rio title.

However, the 19-year-old will remain second in the rankings as the player who has more points from the ATP Finals, Grand Slams and ATP Masters 1000s “wins” the tie-breaker. Djokovic has notched up 5,820 points at those tournaments while Alcaraz has 5,090.

Alcaraz has admitted before the Rio event that he wants to return to the top, but for now the No 1 ranking is not top of his agenda as he wants to win titles.

“I am not a kid or a player who is happy with little things,” he said. “I always want more, and we will look for it this week. The truth is that I don’t feel any pressure to fight with [Novak] Djokovic to be the No 1.

“The truth is that I hope to have a beautiful year with beautiful tournaments, to be honest. I’ll have a little pressure because I’ll defend some important titles and play at a great level.

“But as I have said before, I’ll have to play match by match, enjoying it, more than having results. That is what I hope.”

READ MORE: Carlos Alcaraz is a beautiful addition to the sport, says Monica Seles

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