Carlos Alcaraz booked his third-round spot at the 2023 Madrid Open after overcoming a slow start against Emil Ruusuvuori.
A trademark of big players and legends of the sport is that they can win matches also when they don't play their best or when their opponent is putting on a heroic performance. Surely, both of these could be applied to certain parts of the second-round match between Alcaraz and Ruusuvuori as the Finn played a very solid match, while the Spaniard struggled early on.
The two met only once before on the ATP Tour, and it was in Miami two years ago, when Alcaraz still needed a wild card to enter and was only 17 years old. Ruusuvuori managed to win that match in three sets and he wanted to overcome the Spaniard also at the event where he's defending a title this year, after triumphing in 2022.
The world no. 2 came to Madrid after defending his title in Barcelona, so this year he can do the same thing as in 2022, and that is winning back-to-back titles on home soil. After a bye in the first round of the tournament, Alcaraz faced a tough challenge in the second round.
Ruusuvuori was playing really well in the first set, and he was troubling his opponent, especially in short rallies on his serve. When the Finn was serving in the first set and the rally was shorter than five shots, he won 12 of 13 points. Overall, Ruusuvuori kept 13 out of 17 rallies on his serve that short, and thanks to losing only two points on his serve throughout the first set, he could focus solely on breaking his opponent's serve.
On the other hand, Alcaraz struggled on his serve in the first set, winning only 33% of rallies after his second serve. The Finn managed to create six chances to break the world no. 2, and after using two, he comfortably won the first set 6-2.
Ruusuvuori could go into a one-break lead also in the second set. When he led 3-2 and the Spaniard was serving, the Finn had a total of five break points in the longest and most important game of the match, which lasted over 13 minutes.
After a series of deuces, Alcaraz held his serve and he didn't wait around and produced the same kind of display also in the next game to break his opponent and gain an important advantage. Thanks to holding his serve for the remainder of the set then, Alcaraz won the second set 6-4 and took the match into a decider.
The Spanish teenager showed why he's considered to be a generational talent in the third set. Alcaraz hit 13 winners and made only three unforced errors as he kept cleaning the lines on both sides of the court.
After breaking his opponent's serve twice in the decider, Alcaraz won the match 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 to complete a superb comeback and set up a third-round meeting with Grigor Dimitrov who won earlier on the day and was recently forced to pull out of the Barcelona Open due to illness.
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