MADRID, 14 (EUROPA PRESS)
Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz reached the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Masters 1000 tournament on Wednesday, a hard court tournament, after defeating Italian Luca Nardi in two sets (6-1, 6-4) in one hour and 22 minutes of play, in his best match of the tournament so far.
Carlos Alcaraz is now among the top eight players at the Cincinnati Masters 1000. The Murcia native defeated Italian Luca Nardi, ranked 98th in the ATP rankings, in his round of 16 match in a solid match in which he enjoyed some of his best tennis moments since the tournament began. Alcaraz was particularly solid in the first set and quickly recovered in the second, finishing the match quickly.
The El Palmar native's performance in the match was unbeatable. Alcaraz was far superior to Nardi from the start, managing to distance himself from the opponent by winning the first three games of the match, breaking the Italians' first serve. He would increase his lead with another break to make it 6-1 in less than 30 minutes of play.
All of this was while he displayed his best tennis since returning to the court after losing in the Wimbledon final to Jannik Sinner. In the first set, Alcaraz relied on a great serve—he only lost two points on serve—and solidity from the baseline—four unforced errors—to distance himself from Nardi, who could only hold one of his three service games.
The Italian offered more resistance in the second set. There, as he had against Damir Dzumhur, Alcaraz lost his serve in the sixth game, and Nardi took a 4-2 lead. However, just when it seemed that the Murcian might get into trouble again in what was already a comfortable match, he raised his game to win four consecutive games—two on return—and thus seal the match and advance to the quarterfinals (6-4).
Now, his rival for a place in the tournament's semifinals will be Russian Andrey Rublev, who, in his round of 16 match, defeated Argentine Francisco Comesaña, ranked 71st, in two straight sets (6-2, 6-3) in one hour and five minutes of play.
For his part, Spanish tennis player Roberto Bautista fell in his round of 16 match against American Ben Shelton, the tournament's fifth seed, in straight sets (7-6(3), 6-3), in a match that had to be stopped due to rain. Shelton, coming off a win in Toronto, relied on his serve—15 aces—to overcome a combative Bautista, who forced a tiebreak in the first set.
