The Spanish Carlos Alcaraz (N.2) Ethan Quinn was imposed on Tuesday 6-2 and 7-6 (8/6) in the first round of the ATP 500 from Barcelona and will play the eighths against Serbian Laslo Djere (n.80).
The Murcian, who conquered on Sunday the 1000 Masters of Montecarlo, took the first set easily, but the second was complicated, which he had to solve in the Tie-Break.
“The first matches of each tournament are never easy. I arrived yesterday (Monday), they are different conditions, playing in Barcelona are nervous about how special it is,” Alcaraz told Spanish public television at the end of the game.
“In the end, gone at times, he had the controlled game, he made mistakes, but could win in two sets,” he continued.
The 21 -year -old tennis player, who fell in the first round in the Miami tournament, aspires to lift his third trophy in the city after doing so in 2022 and 2023. Last year he could not participate due to an injury.
Alcaraz broke the Quinn service in the third and fifth game to take an advantage of 5-1. The Spanish could not convert the point of Set into the seventh, but he did it in his serve to end up winning 6-2.
In the second manga, both players broke the rival service up to three times until they reached the Tie-Break, where Alcaraz saved a set point before closing the game.
Face and cross for Argentines
Hours before the two finalists of last year, the Norwegian Casper Ruud (n.10) and the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (n.16) were classified, in addition to the Argentine Sebastián Báez (n.35), while the Argentine Tomás Etcheverry was eliminated before the Australian Álex de Miñaur.
The Scandinavian, current champion of the Catalan tournament, and who is in search of his first trophy of the season, won the Colombian Daniel Galán 6-4 and 6-3.
In the tenth game, Ruud broke Galán’s service to get the first set and, in the second manga, he managed to take advantage (4-2), which served to take the final victory.
For his part, Tsitsipas, a finalist in four editions since 2018, but has never won in Barcelona, surpassed the American Reilly Opelka (n.105) by 6-2 and 6-2.
And face and cross for Argentine tennis: Báéz qualified by winning the Bosnian Damir Dzumhur (n.65) by 6-1 and 7-5, but Etcheverry was eliminated by the Australian Alex de Miñaur, who defeated him by a double 6-4.
The Spanish Pablo Carreño also left the tournament by losing from the entrance against the Frenchman Arthur Fils (n.14) by 7-6 (8/6) and 6-3.
