RIO DE JANEIRO:
World number two Carlos Alcaraz Spain cruised to a 6-4, 5-3 win over Brazil’s Mateus Alves before Tuesday’s heavy rain at the ATP Rio Open.
Defending champion Alcaraz held serve in the eighth game of the second set to edge out a first-round winner as he bids to defend his title on Brazilian clay.
After winning his seventh ATP title at the Argentina Open last week, Alcaraz will conclude his match on Wednesday on the court to try to book a date in the tournament. 16.
The 19-year-old Spaniard, who missed four months due to injury before making his 2023 debut last week in Buenos Aires, will next face Italy’s Fabio Fognini and Chilean Tomas Barrios Vera.
Fognini was leading 6-2, 5-2 when his match was stopped due to flooding.
Alcaraz won five titles last year, added the US Open crown for his first major title and became world number one before giving up after injury.
Alcaraz smashed a forehand past the 556th-ranked Alves to break for a 4-3 lead and held twice to take the opening set.
Alves served a break in the fifth game of the second set when Alcaraz sent a backhand down the line but the Brazilian broke back to level at 3-3.
The 12-minute seventh of the game ended in a rain break and Alves’ seventh game ended with Alcaraz’s 4-pointer. -3 and stop the Spaniard going into the game of promotion.
That’s when it started raining heavily and drove everyone out of the stadium.
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