Carlos Alcaraz booked his place in the last 32 at Wimbledon with a hard-fought victory on Friday.
The world No.1 defeated France’s Alexandre Muller 6-4, 7-6(2) 6-3, to register his 31st main draw win at a major tournament so far in his career. Alcaraz, who is the second Spanish man in the Open Era to be the top seed in a draw at SW19, is playing in only his third Wimbledon tournament. He has now won nine out of 10 Tor-level matches against French players with his sole loss being to Hugo Gaston in 2021.
“I’m really, really happy,” Alcaraz told the BBC. “It’s my second match on Centre Court. The first one, I lost last year. I’m really happy to play here again. I wanted to enjoy every single second and I did that.
“It’s really important to start tournaments well. I’m playing really well on grass. I’m not as experienced as other players but I think I’m playing at a great level, and playing here at Wimbledon is something special. It feel different to other tournaments.”
Taking to Center court on what was a warm day, Alcaraz encountered some spirited resistance from Muller who broke into the top 100 for the first time three months ago. Still, he managed to maintain the edge with the help of 31 winners as he broke only twice. Improving his winning streak on the grass to seven matches this season. Last month he won his first title on the surface at Queen’s.
After battling through the first two sets, Alcaraz struck gold in the eighth game of the third after hitting a clean forehand winner to break for a 5-3 lead. Serving for the match, he fended off a two break points before sealing the win with another forehand winner.
Although it wasn’t all about the top seed. Muller produced a good account of himself with some impressive hitting and went toe-to-toe with Alcaraz through the majority of the match on what was his Wimbledon debut. He has already shown glimmers of his talent earlier this year by reaching the final of an ATP event in Marrakech and the quarter-finals in Doha.
At the tender age of 20, Alcaraz is seeking to become the third-youngest men’s champion at Wimbledon in the Open Era after Boris Becker and Bjorn Borg. He already has a major trophy to his name after claiming the us open title last September.
Alcaraz will play either Nicolas Jarry or Jason Kubler next.
