Alcaraz happy with fitness after win over Lajovic in Rome on return from injury
Carlos Alcaraz won against Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 6-3 on Friday afternoon. He’ll play the winner of the match between American Alex Michelsen, the No 31 seed, and Serb Laslo Djere in the next round
Imago / Psnewz
Carlos Alcaraz made a confident start to his quest for a third Rome title as he beat Serbian qualifier Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 6-3 to reach the third round of Italian Open on Friday.
The Spaniard, who missed Madrid due to an adductor injury, looked totally at ease as he cruised to victory, only his second in Rome but a Tour-leading 25th of the year.
“Today was a great match, great start of the tournament,” he told reporters in Rome. “Honestly, I expect, let’s say, worse match from my side. But I just really, really happy.
“The most important thing was the injury. I was going in the match if I was going to feel it or not. Today was great. I made few sprints, I move great today without any pain, which is great. So it was a great day.”
Alcaraz, ranked No 3, will play the winner of the match between American Alex Michelsen, the No 31 seed, and Serb Laslo Djere next.
In the previous round of the Italian Open, Lajovic, ranked No 131, defeated Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka (7-5, 6-1).
Roma Masters 1000, other second-round results (Foro Italico, clay, EUR 8.055.385, most recent results first):
- Ben Shelton vs. Jaume Munar
- Sebastian Ofner vs. Frances Tiafoe
- Francisco Cerundolo vs. Nicolas Jarry
- Jesper De Jong vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
- Jannik Sinner vs. Mariano Navone
- Luca Nardi vs. Alex De Minaur
- Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. Thiago Seyboth Wild
- Learner Tien vs. Tomas Machac
- Tommy Paul vs. Roberto Bautista Agut
- Fabian Marozsan vs. Andrey Rublev
- Jakub Mensik vs. Matteo Gigante
- Pedro Martinez Portero vs. Hubert Hurkacz
- Taylor Fritz vs. Marcos Giron
- Alexander Bublik vs. Casper Ruud
- Matteo Berrettini vs. Jacob Fearnley
- Aleksandar Vukic vs. Sebastian Korda
- Camilo Ugo Carabelli vs. Alexander Zverev
- Jack Draper vs. Luciano Darderi
- Alex Michelsen vs. Laslo Djere
- Denis Shapovalov vs. Vilius Gaubas
- Francisco Comesana vs. Holger Rune
- Vit Kopriva vs. Sebastian Baez
- Ugo Humbert vs. Corentin Moutet
- Cameron Norrie vs. Daniil Medvedev
- Lorenzo Musetti vs. Otto Virtanen
- Alexandre Muller vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas: friday
- Alexei Popyrin vs. Carlos Taberner: friday
- Arthur Fils (13) beat Tallon Griekspoor: 6-2, 6-2
- Karen Khachanov (23) beat Roman Andres Burruchaga (Q): 6-4, 5-7, 6-1
- Francesco Passaro (WC) beat Grigor Dimitrov (14): 7-5, 6-3
- Jordan Thompson vs. Brandon Nakashima
