Carlos Alcaraz pulls off remarkable comeback to down compatriot in Paris

French Open
Carlos Alcaraz

Carlos Alcaraz pulled off a stunning comeback to secure his place in the French Open Round of 32 and oust compatriot Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

Ramos-Vinolas had the edge in experience but Alcaraz has been on an incredible run and again demonstrated the resilience of a champion to secure a 6-1, 6-7, 5-7, 7-6, 6-4 victory.

Alcaraz was delighted to pull off a victory in what he felt was always going to be a tough match against a player who is very good on clay.

“I feel tired,” Alcaraz said in his on-court interview. “It has been a great battle against Albert. I knew that it was going to be a great match, tough match. We fought until the last point. I’m so happy with the performance today.”

The sixth seed saved match point in the fourth set tiebreaker and rallied from 0-3 down in the fifth set to defeat his countryman and delight the crowd.

“I’m so happy to live this experience in front of you guys. Thank you very much!” Alcaraz told the crowd.

Alcaraz had to fight back again and again in a back-and-forth contest.

He rallied from 0-3 in the fifth to move ahead by a break at 4-3.

Ramos-Vinolas, seeking his second win against a Top 10 opponent at a major, went down swinging.

An Alcaraz error allowed Ramos-Vinolas back into the final set.

However, parity would not be long-lived.

The sixth seed played arguably the defensive point of the French Open so far to earn another break.

Alcaraz did not relinquish his lead this time.

The Spanish teenager triumphed despite 74 unforced errors which left him to dig himself out of a hole, which he did by matching his error count with winners.

By comparison, Ramos-Vinolas sent down just 32 winners across the five set battle.

Credit must go to Ramos-Vinolas for throwing his teenaged compatriot right off his game and for the most part resisting being marched to and fro on Court Simonne-Mathieu.

Alcaraz will face either 27th seeded American Sebastian Korda or Frenchman Richard Gasquet in the French Open third round.

In other significant results, John Isner battled past French World No 210 Gregoire Barrere in four sets, Grigor Dimitrov eased past Borna Coric and Felix Auger-Aliassime brushed past Argentine qualifier Camilo Ugo Carabelli.

Carlos Alcaraz

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