Alcaraz Shakes off Injury Concerns, Defeats Bergs in Tokyo

Carlos Alcaraz shook off injury concerns and earned another win on Saturday in Tokyo. 

The 22-year-old World No.1 survived a game effort from Belgium’s Zizou Bergs, who registered three breaks of serve and kept things interesting throughout before falling 6-4, 6-3 in 79 minutes.  

Alcaraz, who has not lost before a final since Miami in March, will face American Brandon Nakashima in quarterfinal action at Tokyo. 

Alcaraz tweaked his ankle during his first-round win over Sebastian Baez in Tokyo, but says the injury is not giving him too much trouble. After his win he was quick to credit his team for helping him make the most of his day and a half between matches.

“It was tough,” Alcaraz admitted. “It was a really important day and a half that I had to recover as good as I can. I could play, I would say, normally. Sometimes I was worried about some movement on the court, I could feel the ankle, but in general I think I played great tennis. It was a good performance from me even though I was thinking about the ankle a little bit.” 

Alcaraz, making his debut in Tokyo, jumps to 64-7 in the year as he bids for his eighth title. The six-time major champion is 49-3 since April.

Alcaraz was broken twice in the opening set of this first-time meeting, including when serving at 5-2, but he broke immediately back to take it 6-4. 

In the second set the Spaniard took the break lead but gave it back as Bergs converted his second break point for 2-3. 45th-ranked Bergs falls to 25-23 on the season, and 1-8 overall against the Top-10. He has earned his lone Top-10 win (d. Rublev in Miami) and reached two finals in 2025.

Alcaraz won three of the final four games and saved a break point while serving for the match at 5-3. 

The top seed hit 17 winners against 17 unforced errors while Bergs managed 16 winners against 23 unforced.