ROMA — Carlos Alcaraz reappeared after a brief pause for injury, scoring on Friday a 6-3, 6-3 victory over the Serbian Dusan Lajovic in the Italian Open.
Alcaraz, third in the world ranking, withdrew from the Madrid Open last month due to a right -legged condition that bothered him during the Barcelona Open final. He also suffered a nuisance in the left leg.
Against Lajovic, Alcaraz used a long black knee that covered the upper part of his right leg and spread to just below his knee.
“The body responded great,” said the Spanish star. “I moved well. I did some good sprints today without any pain. … It was a test for me, so I think I passed the test today.”
“It was a great performance, a great level, which was a bit surprising to me, but I am really happy for that,” he added.
Alcaraz took the first four games but lost his service when he took out for the first set with 5-2 advantage. The Spanish broke back in the next game to close it, showing its speed on the clay court of the Italic forum when it reached a left and produced a winning shot in a key point.
Alcaraz also advanced early on the second set. It ended with the same number of winning blows as of undined errors: 24.
The victory left Alcaraz-who conquered the title of the masters of Montecarlo in April-was 10-1 on beaten land this season. His next rival will be Laslo Djere, another Serbian player. Djere realized 6-0, 6-3 of the American Alex Michelsen (31 prlacssified).
Alcaraz, four times Grand Slam champion, prepares to defend his title at the France Open, which begins on May 25.
The Rome tournament also marks the return of the number one of the world Jannik Sinner after a three -month suspension per doping.
Sinner and Alcaraz are on the opposite sides of the painting. Sinner will debut against the Argentine Mariano Navone, 99 of the ranking, Saturday.
Friday was a negative day for Argentines: three said goodbye to losing in three sets. Francisco Comesaña let himself go back and fell 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 against Danish Holger Rune (9th preclassified), which defeated Alcaraz in the Barcelona final. In addition, Sebastian Báez (32do) succumbed 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 against the Czech Vit Kopriva and Roman Andrés Burruchaga lost 6-4, 5-7, 6-1 in front of the Russian Karen Khachanov (23).
In the women’s team, the world number one Aryna Sabalenka premiered with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Potapova Anastasia.
Sabalenka came from defeating Coco Gauff in the Madrid final last weekend.
In the night day, Guaff traced to overcome 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 to the Canadian Victoria Mboko, the 156 of the WTA ranking.
In addition, the Russian Mirra Andreeva (7) eliminated 6-2, 6-4 to Colombian Emiliana Arango. Other preclassified ones that advanced to the third round were Zheng Qinwen (8), Emma Navarro (10), Elena Rybakina (11) and Leylah Fernández (24).
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SPORTS IN SPANISH AP: https://apnews.com/hub/deportes
This story was translated from English by an AP editor with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool.
