Carlos Alcaraz came from behind in his debut at the Río Open 2022 in the fratricidal duel against Jaume Munar. The Murcian, number 29 in the ATP, recovered after giving up the first set and ended up sealing the ticket to the round of 16 with an overall result of 2-6, 6-2 and 6-1 in two hours and 17 minutes of play. The pupil of Juan Carlos Ferrero thus achieved his first victory on clay this season and now awaits a rival, which will come from the winner of the duel between Fede Delbonis and Daniel Elahi Galán.
After his good performance at the Australian Open, where only Matteo Berrettini was able to stop him after a five-set battle, Carlos Alcaraz reappeared this week on the circuit to play the Rio Open 500 . A tournament to which he holds special affection as it was the first he played two years ago as a professional player. The Murcian knew firsthand that he was not going to have an easy draw after the draw provided a first round against Jaume Munar, an expert on clay, the surface on which the Brazilian tournament is played.
There was only one precedent between the two on the professional circuit, the semifinals in Marbella last year in which the Balearic player, number 89 in the ATP, won. The one from El Palmar (Murcia) began dominating from the start thanks to an initial break that allowed him to go 2-0, but Munar, with more shooting on clay than his rival -he had already played tournaments in Córdoba and Buenos Aires- recovered and He ended up scoring the first set, forcing Alcaraz to come back if he wanted to continue in Rio.
Juan Carlos Ferrero ‘s pupil had to face a combative Munar, who put him on several occasions against the ropes, but the Murcian held on and ended up equalizing the contest with 6-2 in the second and taking another step to end up closing in the third with a resounding 6-1. The victory point was won with a great volley, which showed his good feelings in his first game of the season on clay.
“It was a really tough game”
At the end of the match, Carlos Alcaraz analyzed his victory in his debut at the Río Open 2022 against Jaume Munar. “It was a really difficult match. Jaume is at a high level, I have already seen and verified his results during this South American tour, in the last tournaments. I knew in advance that it was going to be a very tough match and I am very happy with the way I played in my first match on clay after a long time”, said the Murcian who is in Brazil without the company of his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Munar had several chances to seize Alcaraz’s serve, but he avoided it and ended up deciding the game in his favour. “It was hard. I began to serve much better, Jaume was playing very well, he didn’t miss a ball. It was really complicated, it was a very tight match. After all those opportunities to break my serve, which he could not materialize, I began to play better and better, and I ended up very happy with the way the match ended, “said the Murcian, who now awaits the winner in the round of 16 of the duel between Fede Delbonis and Daniel Elahi Galán.
