Carlos Alcaraz sealed the ticket to the round of 16 of the Indian Wells Masters 1000 after beating Roberto Bautista with a convincing 6-2 and 6-0 in just over an hour of play. Exhibition of the Murcian in the Californian tournament before facing the winner of the duel between Daniil Medvedev, the number one, and the Frenchman Gael Monfils.
Carlos Alcaraz and Roberto Bautista met in the third round of the Masters 1000 in Indian Wells, a Spanish fratricidal duel with which the day began in stadium 3 of the Californian tournament. Days after sharing concentration with Spain in the Davis Cup, the man from Murcia and the man from Castellón, numbers 19 and 15 in the ATP, respectively, faced each other for the first time in an official match.
After an even start, Juan Carlos Ferrero ‘s pupil went up to the net to find the first chance to break the match and managed to make it 1-0 after a mistake by Bautista. The one from Castellón looked for the counterbreak next, but Alcaraz avoided it with a great winner down the line and then with a drop shot he confirmed the advantage on the scoreboard.
At 18 years old, the Murcian began to put on an exhibition of his shots on the Californian track, with drop shots, a quick bounce and a great right hand on the run to overtake Bautista at the net. And in case he had left something out, he took an ace from his arsenal to close the quarter with a convincing 6-2 in just 32 minutes of the game.
One thing about Carlos, he will race to the ball ⚡️
🎥: @TennisTV | @alcarazcarlos03 | @BNPPARIBASOPEN | #IndianWells pic.twitter.com/BHs2fhnXKc
— ATP Tour (@atptour) March 14, 2022
Alcaraz left Bautista unable to react, even though a few weeks ago he had won a title on hard court also outdoors in Doha. The Murcian pressed the rest and took over all of Bautista’s service turns to have a resounding 5-0 and serve. Thus, after just over an hour of play, he sealed the ticket to the round of 16 of the Indian Wells Masters 1000 for the first time in his career and was emerging as a worthy candidate to finish as the second Spanish racket, ahead of Bautista. His next rival will be the winner of the duel between number one, Daniil Medvedev, and Gael Monfils.
