Carlos Alcaraz won his first ATP tour level match since becoming a US Open champion after defeating Jack Draper 3-6 6-2 7-5 at the Swiss Indoors in Basel.
The world number one who was making his debut in Basel looked shaky early on, and gifted Draper an early break to go 2-1 up after several unforced errors.
Draper impressed as the set went on and broke once again to take it 6-3 thanks to a stunning backhand passing shot at 0-30 followed by a blistering forehand down the line on his first set point.
Alcaraz came out of the blocks quickly in the second set, breaking twice to go up 4-0, and consolidated his breaks impressively to level the match.
The Spaniard broke once again to go up 3-2 in the deciding set after a double fault from the 20-year-old, before gifting the break back at 4-4 after a missed forehand.
It was Alcaraz who landed the knockout blow with a stunning backhand down the line to go up 6-5, and served the match out after converting his third match point.
When asked about his current world number one status and being a new Grand Slam champion, Alcaraz said ‘it feels great obviously, but I have tournament ahead so I have no time to enjoy the number one. I have new goals at the end of the year so I have to be focused and prepared for the new challenge.’
Alcaraz added after his victory ‘I made a lot of mistakes at the beginning. I wanted to play aggressive on this court. For me it’s a little bit slower than other tournaments but I had to handle that. I knew that Jack was playing great and I had to be very focused and never give up.’
Alcaraz next faces Botic Van de Zandschulp or Adrian Mannarino. While he currently occupies the number one spot, his compatriot Rafael Nadal is set to return to the tour in Paris next week, and has a chance of overtaking the man 17 years his junior before the end of the season.
The 19-year-old will be contesting the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin for the first time in his career later in November, while Draper will be one of eight players aged under 21 taking part in the Next Gen Finals in Milan.
