Alcaraz survives tricky opener to claim 11th straight Barcelona win

Top seed Carlos Alcaraz was made to work harder than expected for his opening win in Barcelona on Tuesday as he fended off American qualifier Ethan Quinn 6-2, 7-6 (6) to reach the second round.

The world No 2, fresh from his Monte-Carlo Masters victory, had to come from 3-1 down in the second set and saved a set point in the tiebreak before advancing to a clash with Serbian qualifier Laslo Djere.

“It was a difficult match for me,” he admitted, as reported by the ATP Tour’s website. “I just had to deal with the pressure and the nerves. But I’m really happy to have won in straight sets, and give myself a bit of energy for the next matches.

“The clay season is short and really intense. You have to be at 100 per cent in every match, every tournament. Two days ago I playing a final in Monte-Carlo… It’s different conditions here, so I couldn’t rest at all, that’s why saving energy is really important right now.”

Quinn forces Alcaraz to dig deep

The winner in 2022 and 2023 – and unable to compete in 2024 – Alcaraz broke in the fourth game of the first set and was in control early on against the talented Quinn.

But the American broke in the fourth game of the second set and Alcaraz had to dig deep to first get back on track at 3-3 and then, when he served for the match at 6-5 only to drop serve again.

The tiebreak was close throughout but Quinn came from 5-3 down to force a set point, only for Alcaraz to stand tall and win the next three points himself for victory.

Barcelona ATP 500, other first-round results (Real Club de Tenis Barcelona, clay, EUR 2.889.200, most recent results first):

• Stan Wawrinka vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
• Karen Khachanov vs. Cameron Norrie: tuesday
• Jaume Munar beat Frances Tiafoe (9): 2-6, 7-5, 6-1
• Alex De Minaur (5) beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry: 6-4, 6-4
• Laslo Djere beat Arthur Rinderknech (LL): 6-7 (2), 6-1, 6-2
• Casper Ruud (2) beat Daniel Elahi Galan (Q): 6-4, 6-3
• Sebastian Baez beat Damir Dzumhur (LL): 6-1, 7-5
• Arthur Fils (7) beat Pablo Carreno Busta (WC): 7-6 (6), 6-3
• Stefanos Tsitsipas (3) beat Reilly Opelka: 6-2, 6-2
• Andrey Rublev (4) beat Jesper De Jong (Q): 6-1, 6-3
• Holger Rune (6) beat Albert Ramos-Vinolas (WC): 7-5, 6-4
• Hamad Medjedovic (Q) beat Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard: 7-5, 7-6 (6)
• Jacob Fearnley (LL) beat Roberto Carballes Baena: 6-1, 7-5
• Sebastian Korda beat Matteo Arnaldi: 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
• Pedro Martinez Portero beat Brandon Nakashima: 7-5, 5-7, 6-4