It takes much more than a good day to twist Carlos Alcaraz‘s hand. Nicolás Jarry rose to the occasion but the Spaniard brought out his competitive lineage when he needed it most and signed a hard-fought 6-7 (2), 7-5 and 6-0 victory in two hours and 42 minutes to return to the final of the Rio Open presented by Claro.
It is that the current No. 2 in the Pepperstone ATP Ranking must have had nerves of steel for much of a close match and against an opponent who was not only serving above 230 km/h, nor was he giving him rhythm from the bottom of the table.
basketball court. But the 2022 champion of this event rallied from an adverse first set and rallied in time to earn his 10th career win in 11 matches in Rio de Janeiro, after stretching his record to 8-0 in the season. “I’m very proud to be in a new final, in my second tournament.
I couldn’t ask for a better start, and above all because of how the game went,” Alcaraz described. “Today it was key to stay in the game, after the first one, when I didn’t play a good tie-break. In the first game of the second I came back from 0-40 and I was positive waiting for my chance and I don’t know how I did it, ”he said with a laugh.
After getting an opening break in the second game, Jarry made it clear that he wasn’t going to come out and see what happened. Thus, he started 5-2 up, when Alcaraz had barely managed to snatch three points from the Chilean’s serve.
In fact, the Chilean served 5-3 to try to take the first set, before the reaction of World No.2 in the world. And of course, the Spaniard began to turn it around, always signing the spectacular, with high-calibre executions and only for a few: four winning shots, forehand, dropshot, backhand, to break the mold.
Mouratoglou opens up on Alcaraz
Serena Williams’ former coach Patrick Mouratoglou recently opined that Carlos Alcaraz will have to deal with serious pressure situations in the upcoming days. “I think Carlos is someone that handles the pressure well but I think he’ll have pressure.
Maybe, he doesn’t realise yet but when he will be there, having to defend titles, having been No. 1 in the world with all the expectations that come with it, he’ll feel it and it’s normal,” Mouratoglou said. “I believe that he doesn’t think about the rankings and the points or that he will, …but more his status.
I’m here, I won last year, I beat most of the best players in the world. So, I’m supposed to win. And how do I handle the fact that when I go on the court, everything but a win is a bad result? So this is difficult and this is what he will have to deal with a 100 percent.”
