Author: Barkha Roy
Men’s No. 1 seed Carlos Alcaraz advanced to the last 16 of the Madrid Open with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Grigor Dimitrov on Sunday. He will face Alexander Zverev in the next round, in a rematch of the 2022 Madrid Open final, after the 13th seed managed an easy win against Frenchman Hugo Grenier, beating him in two sets (6-1, 6-0).
Alcaraz, who wasn’t at his best in his previous round of 16 match against top seed Emil Ruusuvuori, continued his fight against Dimitrov in this match. However, he sealed the win by converting four of his six break opportunities, being broken just once.
After successfully defending his title at the Barcelona ATP 500 last Sunday, Alcaraz is trying to complete the double at home for the second season in a row. Over the course of four campaigns, he won 17 consecutive games on Spanish soil. To win the championship in Madrid, he must increase that total to 21.
Meanwhile, Zverev won 86 percent (17/20) of the points at the net, hit 26 winning points and broke Grenier’s serve six times to record his 12th win of the year. The German is also one of the contenders for the title at the tournament, with a 21-3 record at the Madrid Open and reaching the quarter-finals in all five of his previous appearances, winning the tournament in 2018 and 2021.
In another men’s draw, Karen Khachanov also reached the last 16 of the tournament after beating world number 20 Roberto Bautista Agit 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 in a very tight match.
In the women’s event, world number one Iga Swiatek beat Bernards Pera of the United States 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the next round. The 21-year-old almost lost the first set, but came back strongly to win the match in two sets and in an hour and 15 minutes.
In another women’s match, third seed Jessica Pegula also reached the last 16. She beat Marie Bouzkova, from the Czech Republic, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2). In the Round of 16, she will face Martina Trevisan from Italy.
Yesterday we also saw Brazil’s Luisa Stefani team up with Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski in the second round of the women’s doubles, where the Brazilian-Canadian pair beat the Russian Andreeva sisters 6-3, 7-5 to reach the next round of the competition.