Carlos Alcaraz from Murcia remains committed to offering his best version on this spring tour of the United States. A few days ago, he already won his second Indian Wells. And this week at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, which serves as both a soccer stadium, a Formula 1 circuit or the center court of a Masters 1,000 tennis tournament, he wants to extend his good feelings.
At the moment it is on the right track. In the second round he did not give any option to his compatriot Roberto Carballés (6-2 and 6-1), in the round of 32 he did the same with one of the most respected players on the tour, the veteran Gaël Monfils (6-2 and 6-4) , and tonight he also had no problems beating Lorenzo Musetti, from the same fifth as the Murcian – the Italian is a year older – and whom he defeated by a clear 6-3 and 6-3.
Musetti already said in the preview that both know each other perfectly, since they grew up together on the circuit and within the ATP they have faced each other a total of four times, with a clear balance in favor of the Murcian with three victories and only one defeat. . However, on Miami’s center court only one name stood out, and that was Alcaraz.
And from the first game, the Spaniard wanted to impose his game, solid from the back of the court, connecting winning blows both with his forehand and with his dreaded left hand which, at the same time, added to Musetti’s poor performance in his first service game, they made the current world number 2 get a break at the first opportunity.
The Italian, aware that he had to react if he did not want to emerge clearly defeated from a tournament that until 2018 was held at Crandon Park, located about 35 kilometers from the current venue of the Masters 1000, tried to make things difficult for Alcaraz. However, the Murcian played a very intelligent first set, without giving up a single game on serve and although in some games Musetti gave the impression that he could get the break, Alcaraz showed that he had everything under control and knew how to respond with one more blow.
Serves to the body, making him go up to the net and then finishing the point with a lob, open forehands that made the Italian’s runs useless or trying to reach all the balls that Musetti proposed and causing the consequent failure of the current 24th number in the world, which seemed imprecise, were some of the weapons that Alcaraz exhibited throughout the first round.
Already in the seventh game, the Spaniard had a break ball that Musetti saved to make it 4-3 and pass the pressure on the serve to the Murcian, who responded with 5-3. However, once again with the serve, the Italian once again fell into the trap of Alcaraz who, although he could not take advantage of his first set point, did not forgive the second and scored the first set 6-3 after only 40 minutes of party.
Just two facts to take into account: Alcaraz won 16 of the 21 points he played on serve, while Musetti did the same with 19 of 34. Likewise, the Italian was only able to score 54% of his first serves and did not He had no breaking balls in the entire first set.
Little changed in the second set, with Alcaraz who continued to defend his serve tooth and nail and Musetti who, despite the fact that on this occasion he was able to score his first service game, continued hitting imprecise blows in response to Alcaraz’s demands. safe at the back of the court and reliable with both the forehand and the backhand. Proof of this was that the Italian had a break ball with the score at 1-1, which the Murcian saved with a great drive.
And then came the point of the match. With an advantage on the serve, Alcaraz hit an ineffective drop shot that Musetti arrived at, who wanted to win the applause of those present with a blow between the legs that ended up becoming a lob. The Spanish tennis player managed to arrive, somewhat forced, and although he responded with a willy, the Italian was already at the net to close the point.
In fact, this third game of the second set was the most even, as Musetti had another break point that Alcaraz saved again. And the world number two himself closed the game moments later with a new drop shot, which was followed by an angry gesture from Carlitos towards his box, captained as usual by Juan Carlos Ferrero, knowing that he had saved one of the most compromised moments. of the meeting.
The following games had little history, with the two tennis players securing the serve and waiting for their moment, which came in the fifth game, with Alcaraz who, although he could not take advantage of his first two break points against a Musetti whose box asked him for “tranquility “, he did do it with the third, with which he earned a new ovation from the stadium and the approval of his coach.
However, the Italian had not said his last word. It seemed like it was closer 5-2 than 4-3, but the Indian Wells champion surely played his worst game, something that Musetti knew how to take advantage of to, this time, get his first break of the match and put some emotion.
But it was a mirage. A champion is also a champion for his ability to react to adversity, and Alcaraz got a new break to ensure he served to close the match. So he did, also scoring the second set 6-3 and taking another step to try to triumph again on Floridian soil – he already did it in 2022, when he won his first Masters 1000 – and score the ‘Sunshine Double’ (winner in Indian Wells and Miami the same year), something that only 11 tennis players have achieved throughout the entire history of this sport.
After nine consecutive games won, the Spaniard is already waiting in the quarterfinals for the winner of the duel between the Polish Hubert Hurkacz and the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, which at the close of this edition had yet to be played.
