It was a good day at the office for Carlos Alcaraz as the Spaniard claimed a 6-3 6-3 win over Dusan Lajovic in Rome.
The world number three was playing his first match since the 20th of April when he lost to Holger Rune in the Barcelona final.
However there was no sign of rust as Alcaraz demolished the Serbian qualifier in straight sets to reach the third round in Italy.
Speaking after the contest Alcaraz was satisfied with his performance and admitted it could have been worse, “Well, today was a great match, great start of the tournament. Honestly, I expect, let’s say, worse match from my side,” Alcaraz told reporters in Rome.
“But I just really, really happy. The most important thing was the injury. I was going in the match if I was going to feel it or not. Today was great. I made few sprint, I move great today without any pain, which is great. So it was a great day.”
The start of the clay court season was a successful one for Alcaraz as he began his campaign on the red dirt with a title in Monte-Carlo.
However, having suffered an injury in Barcelona Alcaraz was forced to withdraw from the tournament in Madrid.
Reflecting on his time off Alcaraz spoke about what he did in his time off and when he returned to the practice court, “Honestly, I took some days without doing anything. Just recovering with the physio,” Alcaraz stated.
“Didn’t do any physical pression. Didn’t do any movement at all. When I went home on Monday after coming back from Madrid, I did a test. I want to see how was it. It was perfect almost.
“Then I started to practice. It was a mix of everything, you know? It was a mix of taking it easily and, of course, practicing, too, to get ready to Rome.”
Another Serb awaits in the third round for Alcaraz in the form of Laslo Djere.
