Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz made his debut on clay in Rome, with a controlled win over compatriot Albert Ramos (72nd) and regaining the world no ).
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“The man to beat” on the Ocher, who, according to six-time Rome Masters 1000 winner and titleholder Novak Djokovic, wreaked torrential rain on the Italian capital all day in the absence of Rafael Nadal to finalize his contract twentieth win in 21 games on clay in 2023.
Banned from the first round, the 20-year-old Spaniard certainly started his Roman adventure with a faceoff loss but quickly upped the pace and defeated Ramos in 1:26 (6-4, 6-1).
The one who just won the Barcelona and Madrid tournaments in quick succession is making his first appearance at the Roman tournament, where he appears as Djokovic’s main rival en route to a possible seventh coronation.
It’s the first time this year that both will take part in the same tournament and the Tifosi are already dreaming of a duel of the titans that could only take place in the final, on May 21st, a week before the start of Roland Garros.
In Paris, Alcaraz will reach world No. 1, a place he will surely take in the next ATP rankings after Rome. The young Spaniard only had to play one game at the Foro Italico to get past Djokovic, who he lagged behind in the final standings.
As the defending champions, ‘Nole’ will at best be able to maintain his current points in the event of further success, while Alcaraz, who missed out in Italy last year, have already accumulated enough points to overtake him and regain the No. 1 spot which he has held regularly since his victory at the US Open last year.
“Being #1 is great. Being part of a Grand Slam in Roland-Garros is something crazy, I couldn’t have believed it a few years ago,” commented Alcaraz.
“But to be honest, being seeded 1st or 2nd doesn’t change much. I just have to focus on the tournament, on my game,” he added.
The Spaniard was satisfied to have defeated his compatriot Ramos in “not easy conditions, with rain all day”. “I didn’t know if I was going to play or not, it was difficult,” he emphasized after a game that was played in the afternoon in light drizzle, which was nothing like the heavy rain at midday.
The Spaniard meets Hungarian Fabian Marozsan (135th in the world) or Czech Jiri Lehecka (39th) in the 3rd round.
Between the drops, Russia’s Andrey Rublev (N.6) also qualified at the expense of Slovakian Alex Molcan (59th).