After winning his second consecutive Indian Wells last Sunday, Carlos Alcaraz (n.2) made a practically perfect debut this Saturday at the Miami Open and beat fellow Spaniard Roberto Carballés (n.64) in the second round 6-2 and 6. -1 in one hour and 25 minutes.
Alcaraz, as the number 1 seed in the tournament due to the absence of Novak Djokovic (no. 1), did not have to play the first round of this Masters 1,000 and will face the winner of the match between Frenchman Gael Monfils (no. 47) and the Australian Jordan Thompson (n.34).
The Murcian is especially good at playing against Spaniards, as he has 11 consecutive wins in duels against his compatriots.
The last time he lost to a Spaniard on the other side of the net was in the Indian Wells semifinals in 2022 with a loss to Rafa Nadal.
Unlike his hesitant debut in Indian Wells, where he lost the first set to the Italian Matteo Arnaldi (n.38) and then sealed a shocking comeback, Alcaraz took the steamroller in Miami from the first point. Carballés suffered it firsthand, losing the serve with which he uncorked the match.
With sky-high confidence, the one from El Palmar once again showed the magnificent tennis that took him to fly in Indian Wells, shining with his forehand, his serve, going up to the net, defending himself tooth and nail when he touched…
Carballés could do little or nothing against such a version of Alcaraz, who once again broke his rival’s serve and closed the opening set 6-2 after 38 minutes of monologue.
The rain had given a respite in Miami although the humidity was very high, as was Alcaraz’s impeccable level on the court: Juan Carlos Ferrero’s pupil seemed to be in a hurry and with a parallel forehand like a thunderclap he broke Carballés’s serve as soon as he started the second sleeve.
The man from Granada, who turned 31 today, did not lower his arms and took some beautiful shots out of his hat, but even when he took the initiative and controlled the rally, Alcaraz, with some fabulous defenses, forced him to make one or more extra efforts to win. point. In one of them, Carballés even ended up smiling as if he couldn’t believe everything that Alcaraz was capable of giving back.
Anecdotes aside, Alcaraz, enjoying himself on the court, went ahead with another break, did not lose his serve throughout the evening and finished the match quickly from the rest.
Miami is a tournament that brings back good memories for Alcaraz since in 2022 he won his first Masters 1,000 title there. In 2023 he lost in the semifinals to the Italian Jannik Sinner (n.3) but this year he aspires to the double known as ‘Sunshine Double’, that is, becoming champion in the same year in Indian Wells and Miami.
Only seven male tennis players in history have achieved the ‘Sunshine Double’. Jim Courier (1991), Michael Chang (1992), Pete Sampras (1994), the Chilean Marcelo Ríos (1998) and Andre Agassi (2001) achieved it once, but Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic signed the ‘Sunshine Double’ several times. times: three in the case of the Swiss (2005, 2016 and 2017) and four in the case of the Serbian (2011, 2014, 2015, 2016).
In the women’s competition, only four tennis players sealed that double in the same year: Steffi Graf (1994 and 1996), Kim Clijsters (2005), Victoria Azarenka (2016) and Iga Swiatek (2022).
