Alcaraz Opens Quest for Third Barcelona Crown with Commanding Win

By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, April 14, 2026
Photo credit: Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters Facebook

Transforming Barcelona’s crushed red brick into tennis trampoline, Carlos Alcaraz bounced back in a big way today.

The top-seeded Alcaraz tore through eight of the last 10 games dismissing Otto Virtanen 6-4, 6-2 in his Barcelona opener.

There was some concern as the 22-year-old Spaniard took a medical timeout late in the opening set for treatment on his right wrist. However, Alcaraz grew strong as the match progressed.

Forty-eight hours after Alcaraz squandered break leads in both sets bowing to rival Jannik Sinner in a Monte-Carlo final defeat that cost him his crown and world No. 1 ranking, Alcaraz was man on a mission today.

Riding a streak of seven straight clay-court finals, Alcaraz launched his quest for a third Barcelona title and to regain the world No. 1 ranking.

If Alcaraz, who lost to Holger Rune in the 2025 Barcelona final, takes the title on Sunday, he will surpass Sinner and regain the top spot.

Though his first practice session in Barcelona came just this morning, Alcaraz said he found his comfort level quickly in front of supportive home fans.

“It feels great to be back to get another win in Barcelona in front of my people, in front of my everything,” Alcaraz said. “I miss playing in Barcelona. This morning was my first practice here totally different conditions than Monte-Carlo.

“Overall, [I am] really happy with the way I’m playing. I ended up [playing great tennis. Hopefully, the next round it’s going to get better and we’ll see how it’s going to be.”

It is Alcaraz’s 16th consecutive victory at the ATP 500 level.

Reigning Roland Garros, US Open and Australian Open champion Alcaraz improved to 22-3 on the season.

As for the wrist issue, Alcaraz said it’s not unusual to feel pain after his recent heavy red-clay workload.

“They are discomforts that come out seeing the few days I have had of recovery in some movement that is not usual,” Alcaraz told Spanish media in Barcelona. “I went more relaxed to the second set. Juanjo, my physio, will see me, but they are discomforts that I have had before and that did not get worse.

“My idea is to be in the best possible condition for Thursday’s [match].” 

The second-ranked Spaniard set up an intriguing round-of-16 match vs. Czechia’s Tomas Machac.

Olympic mixed doubles champion Machac rallied past Argentinean Sebastian Baez 2-6, 6-4, 6-1. It was Machac’s second clay-court win over Baez in as many meetings and sets up a third showdown between Alcaraz and the Czech, who have split two prior meetings.

Shaking off a disappointing Monte-Carlo final defeat on Sunday, Alcaraz started his Barcelona return under break-point stress but turned it on as the match progressed winning eight of the last nine points played on the Virtanen serve in closing today’s sweep.

Facing triple break point in the fifth game, Alcaraz defused danger by deconstructing his opponent’s forehand. Alcaraz denied all three break points drawing a few forehand errors in holding for a 3-2 first-set lead.

Though he was pushed to deuce in his first three service games, and faced break points in two of those games, Alcaraz began to find his range.

Targeting the Virtanen forehand, Alcaraz began cracking even more severe cross-court forehands provoking a series of forehand errors from the qualifier, whose running forehand appears to be a work in progress.

Alcaraz drew another forehand miscue to take a onet-set lead.

Seventy-minutes into the match, Alcaraz forced Virtanen backhand behind the baseline with the depth of his drives then detonated a crosscourt forehand provoking the error to break for 3-1. Alcaraz worked through a demanding deuce hold to extend his lead to 6-4, 4-1.