Carlos Alcaraz makes triumphant return in Rome

New Straits Times

09-05-2025

SPANISH star Carlos Alcaraz returned to competition from an adductor injury and had little trouble beating Serbian qualifier Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 6-3 in the Round of 64 of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia on Friday in Rome.
Alcaraz missed the Madrid Open in his home country last month to rest the injury and wore a knee wrap as a precaution on Friday. Still, the No. 3 seed notched his ATP Tour-best 25th win of the season in an hour and 22 minutes.
"The body is feeling great," Alcaraz said. "I moved well and made a few good sprints today without any pain and that is great. It was a test for me and I think I passed the test. I tried to feel more comfortable on the court -- moving and not thinking about the injury."
Alcaraz fired 24 winners to Lajovic's 13 and won 26 of 36 first-service points (72.2 percent). Lajovic could not keep up, facing 10 break points and saving six while breaking Alcaraz's serve just once.
Not to be outdone, No. 2 seed and defending champion Alexander Zverev of Germany flew past Argentina's Camilo Ugo Carabelli 6-2, 6-1 in 66 minutes. Zverev finished with a massive 20-4 advantage in total winners and won 20 of 26 points (76.9 percent) at the net.
British fifth seed Jack Draper fired seven aces without a double fault and saved all seven break points he faced in a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Italian Luciano Darderi. Draper was the runner-up in Madrid after winning his first ATP Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells earlier this year.
"I knew it was going to be tough, especially after the past fortnight," Draper said. "I put a lot of energy into that, so coming here to different conditions, a different environment, I had to adapt quickly against a good player in a different atmosphere. I thought I did a great job today of handling that, and hopefully as the rounds progress, I can keep on getting better."
The Italian fans were treated to No. 8 seed Lorenzo Musetti taking care of business against Finnish qualifier Otto Virtanen 6-3, 6-2. The biggest upset of the day also favored an Italian, wild card Francesco Passaro, who eliminated Bulgarian 14th seed Grigor Dimitrov 7-5, 6-3.
No. 9 seed Holger Rune of Denmark rallied past Argentina's Francisco Comesana 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, while No. 10 Daniil Medvedev of Russia topped British lucky loser Cameron Norrie 6-4, 6-2.
Other winners included No. 13 seed Arthur Fils of France, No. 18 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, No. 23 seed Karen Khachanov of Russia, No. 24 seed Alexei Popyrin of Australia, Lithuanian qualifier Vilius Gaubas, Serbia's Laslo Djere and Czech qualifier Vit Kopriva.
American Brandon Nakashima, the 28th seed, advanced via walkover following Australian Jordan Thompson's withdrawal. Also, Frenchman Corentin Moutet was ahead 6-3, 4-0 when countryman and 21st seed Ugo Humbert retired due to a lingering hand injury. - Field Level Media/Reuters