Defending champion Alcaraz returns to Buenos Aires with a win over Ugo Carabelli

Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz made a winning return to the red clay of Argentina, defeating Argentinian qualifier Camilo Ugo Carabelli 6-2, 7-5 to move into the quarter-finals of the Argentina Open at Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club on Thursday night.

Alcaraz, who claimed the title last year on his debut, defeating Cameron Norrie in the final, will face Italian qualifier Andrea Vavassori next.

“It has been a really tough match,” the 20-year-old world No 2 said on court after his win. “Ugo is a really tough fighter, a really good player with good rhythm, and it was really tough to get into the match and play my game.”

It was a struggle for Alcaraz at times, particularly behind his second serve. He only won 2 of 17 second serve points, and faced a total of nine break points against the 24-year-old qualifier.

“I started very nervous, I’m not gonna lie,” he said. “With the crowd behind him, supporting him, it’s normal, but I’m really happy with my first match on clay since Roland-Garros, hopefully I’ll keep going better and better.”

The nerves may have been gone in the second set, but the struggles remained as Ugo Carabelli rallied from 5-2 down to level up and had triple break point with Alcaraz serving at 5-5.

From there Alcaraz won nine of the final points to close out the win.

On the flipside, Alcaraz earned 18 break points and converted seven against Ugo Carabelli. He won 19 of 25 second-serve return points and 45 of 76 return points in total.

Alcaraz went 25-3 on clay last year, his season on clay ending with a difficult loss to Novak Djokovic in the semi-final at Roland-Garros.

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Ugo Carabelli, ranked No 134, won against Peruvian Juan Pablo Varillas (7-6 (5), 6-4) in the previous round of the Buenos Aires Open.

Buenos Aires ATP 250, other second-round results (Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club, clay, USD 642.615, most recent results first):

• Sebastian Baez vs. Luciano Darderi
• Federico Coria beat Cameron Norrie (2): 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
• Andrea Vavassori beat Laslo Djere (7): 6-4, 7-5
• Nicolas Jarry (3) beat Stan Wawrinka: 6-7 (3), 6-2, 7-6 (5)
• Facundo Diaz Acosta (WC) beat Francisco Cerundolo (4): 7-6 (3), 6-0
• Dusan Lajovic beat Alejandro Tabilo: 6-4, 1-6, 6-1
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry (6) beat Daniel Elahi Galan (Q): 6-3, 6-0