Carlos Alcaraz had far more trouble than expected against Daniel Evans in a very epic match at the 2023 Shanghai Masters that ended in two sets.
So the score line in this one was 7-6(1) 6-4 for Alcaraz in a match that lasted well over two hours. The reason why it lasted so long is because Evans was giving Alcaraz quite a bit of trouble.
They played a strange match where the Spaniard mostly dominated on his own serve while Evans struggled, having to fend off multiple break points. In fact, Evans broke Alcaraz early in the match to take a 4-1 lead, and by that time, the Spaniard already wasted almost 10 break points.
In the end, he did break back and make it 4-4, but it took him a lot of effort to do so. The opening set finished in the tiebreak, and it was a dominant display from Alcaraz, who literally flipped the switch and smashed Evans easily 7-1.
It was a great display by Alcaraz, who had 13 break points in the opening set and used only one. To further illustrate how odd the set was, at one point, there were 23 rallies played on the serve of Alcaraz and 69 on the serve of Evans.
That's how much pressure the Spaniard was creating but also how many chances he wasted. The second set was quite similar as Evans once again took an early break, but similar to the tiebreak, Alcaraz flipped the switch and outplayed him the rest of the set.
It was a really great match from both sides. Alcaraz had six aces and 32 winners in this one. Another great win for the Spaniard, who is looking even better this week than last week in Beijing. He's hopeful of going further as well, though a tricky matchup with Grigor Dimitrov awaits.
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