It took Carlos Alcaraz ten points to raise the roof at the ABN Amro in Rotterdam on Thursday. The rest of the contest Alcaraz kept a lid on his opponent, Italy’s Andrea Vavassori, to clinch a dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory and book his spot in the quarterfinals on his tournament debut.
A Stunning behind-the-back lob led to a piercing backhand down-the-line winner for Alcaraz for a break and a 2-0 lead, and the 21-year-old was off to the races from there.
“It comes natural in the moment,” Alcaraz said of the shot. “You can’t practice it. I’m not looking forward to doing it every match but if it comes, it’s good.”
Cruise control in every sense of the word for Alcaraz, who was too strong for the World No.317 from start to finish.
“Today was much better,” Alcaraz said. “I just tried to be focused on what I had to improve from the first round.”
Alcaraz, the top seed, will face either Holger Rune or Pedro Martinez in the quarterfinals on Friday.
The Spaniard hit 17 winners against 13 unforced errors and converted five of eight break points to earn his victory in a cool 63 minutes.
“After these kinds of matches my confidence goes up,” added Alcaraz.
In other action on a busy round of 16 day in Rotterdam, Alex de Minaur took out Jakub Mensik 6-4 6-4, while Stefanos Tsitsipas saved a match point to defeat home favorite Tallon Griekspoor, 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 7-5.
Fourth-seeded Andrey Rublev took out Fabian Marozsan, 7-6(2), 7-6(7), while Frenchman Arthur Fils fell to Germany’s Daniel Altmaier, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5. Rublev will face Hubert Hurkacz on Friday; Altmaier will face De Minaur.
Tsitsipas will face Italian qualifier Mattia Bellucci, the man who took out second-seeded Daniil Medvedev on Wednesday.
“Amazing,” Tsitsipas said. “I’m super glad the way things turned around, and the way I delivered at the end. I did play well towards the end, there were crucial moments that had to be handled correctly, and I did so.”