Two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz has proven no signal of being hampered by a nagging arm damage as he eased to victory in his opening match on the Madrid Open.
The Wimbledon champion brushed apart Alexander Shevchenko 6-2 6-1 on the outside clay contained in the Caja Magica in his first match in practically a month in Madrid on Friday.
Alcaraz was coming off a proper arm damage that saved him from taking part in in Monte Carlo and Barcelona, and had feared he may not have the ability to play this week.
“I didn’t know how I would feel on the court, and I had my doubts,” Alcaraz mentioned.
“I had started practice this week taking things very easy and slowly picking up the intensity, and I still had doubts swimming in my mind. But today there was none of that. I surprised even myself and I am happy with how good I felt.”
This was Alcaraz’s first match since dropping to Grigor Dimitrov within the Miami Open quarter-finals practically one month in the past.
Madrid is the Spaniard’s first look on the European clay-court swing — he struggled in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro in February — as he goals to win his first French Open title subsequent month.
The Spaniard mentioned that he could be completely happy to play “three of four matches” on the ATP 1000 match.
Alcaraz, who had a first-round bye, performed with a wrapping overlaying most of his proper arm from his wrist up previous his elbow.
But he regarded just about like the identical aggressive participant who has dominated right here for the previous two years and given Spanish tennis followers hope that there’s life after Rafael Nadal.
Alcaraz broke Shevchenko’s serve 4 instances and can subsequent face Thiago Seyboth Wild after the Brazliian beat Lorenzo Musetti 6-4 6-4.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
