Carlos Alcaraz gets scared against Emil Ruusuvuori but slips away in third round in Madrid

The Madrid tournament almost lost its defending champion. After playing a nightmarish first set, Carlos Alcaraz finally found his tennis to win this Friday against Emil Ruusuvuori (n°41) and reach the third round of the Madrid Masters 1000 (2-6, 6-4, 6 -2). The first seed in the tournament, the Spaniard will face the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov (n°32) in the next round.

The world No. 2 really did not go far from leaving for his entry into the tournament, just a few days after winning the Barcelona tournament. Faced with an unleashed and devilishly precise Emil Ruusuvuori on the return, Carlos Alcaraz seemed completely lost, in search of sensations and ideas.

Dimitrov in the third round

Solid on his face-off, the Finn conceded just two points in his four service games and disrupted the Spaniard’s pace with his relentless attacks. Broken in the fourth game, Alcaraz will be broken again at the very end of the first set (6-2). Frustrated by this unusual level of play in his head, the defending champion even unpinned, swinging his racket after yet another unforced error.

But it takes more to destabilize the 19-year-old. After saving five break points and equalizing at 3-3 in the second set, the Spaniard finally regained his unpredictable game, chaining winning drop shots and devastating forehands. He first made the break before concluding this second round on a white service game (6-4).

The third set was one-sided. Once again the world No. 2 that we knew, Carlos Alcaraz did not let his opponent return to the game. More imprecise and unable to find solutions, Emil Ruusuvuori conceded his entry service before yielding a second time in the middle of the set. Finally serene, Alcaraz quietly ended his face-off. He qualified for the third round of this Masters 1000 in Madrid where he will find Grigor Dimitrov, who killed Grégoire Barrère.