Carlitos is back! Alcaraz makes winning debut, defeating Djere in Buenos Aires

Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, the top seed, moved into the quarter-finals of the Argentina Open by winning against Serb Laslo Djere 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 at the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club on Thursday night.

The No 2-ranked Spaniard competed for the first time since pulling out of his quarter-final with Holger Rune at the Paris Masters on November 4th of last year. Since that day he has been recovering from a muscle tear in his left abdominal well and, later, another injury to his hamstring, which was suffered during his pre-season practice for the Australian Open.

Some rust, but also some great form

The 19-year-old showed some rust on Wednesday evening in Buenos Aires, particularly in a second set that saw him fail to convert on any of his eight break point opportunities, but he ultimately pulled away from the 27-year-old qualifier in the third set.

Alcaraz put his tremendous power on display at times, and also demonstrated the touch and precision as he worked in the drop shot to keep Djere off balance.

Djere had his moments as well. He dug deep to stave off Alcaraz and push the match to a decider, despited strugglinb with some type of non-disclosed injury throughout the match. In the end the challenge proved too difficult to overcome.

Alcaraz was making his first appearance on Argentinian soil. The Spaniard improves to 40-11 lifetime on clay and 91-31 lifetime for his career.

“It’s a great feeling to win again,” Alcaraz said on court after the match. “Has been a lot of time for me with no competition, no matches, just recovering and finally I got my first win of 2023.”

You might also like this

“He’s like a God” – Alcaraz hopes to supplant Djokovic at top of rankings, but knows what he’s up against

tennis majors

With first Slam and top ranking achieved, coach Ferrero says “the goal is to keep growing as a player” for Alcaraz

tennis majors

In a packed stadium with fans clearly engaged and interested in watching the teenage phenom, Alcaraz dropped just five points on serve in the final set and converted both breaks he saw against Djere, as he closed out his victory in two hours.

Then he celebrated his moment.

“I’m really happy,” he said. “I didn’t expect such a great crowd, a great atmosphere behind me, so I can just say thank you to all the fans here in Buenos Aires for the warm welcome that I received and I hope to keep going with this energy.”

Alcaraz, ranked No 2, will play Serb qualifier Dusan Lajovic next.

Lajovic defeated Camilo Ugo Carabelli 6-3 6-1 on Wednesday.

Djere, ranked No 57, beat Italian Fabio Fognini (6-4, 6-4) in the previous round of the Buenos Aires Open.

Buenos Aires ATP250, other second-round results (Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club, clay, USD 626.595, most recent results first):

• Diego Schwartzman vs. Bernabe Zapata Miralles
• Pedro Cachin vs. Lorenzo Musetti
• Jaume Munar vs. Francisco Cerundolo
• Dominic Thiem vs. Juan Pablo Varillas
• Dusan Lajovic beat Camilo Ugo Carabelli (Q): 6-3, 6-1
• Cameron Norrie (2) beat Facundo Diaz Acosta (WC): 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (6)
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry beat Roberto Carballes Baena: 4-6, 6-1, 6-2

Read also

The statistics that defined 2022 – Alcaraz becomes the youngest No 1 in history

Tennis Majors