By Alberto Amalfi | @Tennis_Now | Friday, September 27, 2024

 

Carlos Alcaraz led a charge of top seeds into the China Open round of 16.

Photo credit: Shi Tang/Getty

Unless he's hitting a tweener, Carlos Alcaraz doesn't spend time looking over his shoulder.

Today, Alcaraz stared down a younger—and dangerous—opponent and prevailed.

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Alcaraz converted both of his break points in a 6-4, 6-4 win over serving giant Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in his Beijing opener.

Meeting a younger opponent for just the third time in his career, the 21-year-old Spaniard met the moment.



Alcaraz won 18 of 22 second-serve points and saved all three break points he faced in a one hour, 21-minute win.

"The plan was to put in as many returns as he could and it wasn't easy, because he serves 240, 230 almost every serve, and the seconds at 210, 215... He is a very powerful player, a great server, with good shots from the baseline. He had to be very focused, not make too many mistakes and be aggressive when he could to try to put pressure on his service games," Alcaraz said.



With the win, Alcaraz improved to 44-9 on the season.

World No. 3 Alcaraz will play Tallon Griekspoor in the round of 16.

Three of the top four seeds—Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev—advanced to the China Open round of 16, joining world No. 1 Jannik Sinner, who won his opener yesterday.

Australian Open and US Open champion Sinner will face lucky loser Roman Safiullin for a quarterfinal spot.

No. 3-seeded Medvedev converted five of 10 break points in a 6-3, 6-4 win over veteran Gael Monfils.



The 2021 US Open champion Medvedev beat Monfils for the third time in five meetings.

Medvedev moved into a round of 16 meeting with another Frenchman, Adrian Mannarino. The 44th-ranked Mannarino owns a 4-3 head-to-head edge over Medvedev though five of their eight meetings were played on grass.

No 4-seeded Andrey Rublev defeated Roberto Bautista Agut 6-0, 4-6, 6-4 on the strength of five service breaks. Rublev will play another Spaniard, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, for a quarterfinal spot.