Carlos Alcaraz continued his Argentina Open run by beating Andrea Vavassori in straight sets and booking the semi-final.
Before Alcaraz touched down in Argentina, he was in action at the Australian Open. That event ended disappointingly because he lost to Alexander Zverev in a match that many assumed he could win.
Tennis fans expected him to return with a bang, hoping to wash away that disappointment, and it's been going well so far in Buenos Aires. He won the ATP 250 event last year and is looking really strong, and as a potential champion once more.
After cruising through his first match in Buenos Aires, the Spaniard added another solid win over a player who realistically is not on his level. Andrea Vavassori is a pretty solid player, on clay especially, but he's ranked outside of the Top 100 for a reason.
Even so, the Italian put up a really good fight in this match, especially in the first set, which ended in a tie-break. Alcaraz couldn't find a breakthrough earlier, even though he had a chance.
He only had one break point chance, though, which shows how solid Vavassori was overall, especially on his serve. The tie-break was a no-contest because Alcaraz bested his opponent 7-1.
That good momentum carried over into the next set as Alcaraz took an early break. He would hold it to take a 3-0 lead, and by that time, it became clear that the match was basically over.
It took the 20-year-old a while to get going, but once he finally found a breakthrough, he was able to cruise past the Italian without any issues. The final score was 7-6(1) 6-1, and he moved into the semi-final, where he'll be heavily favored regardless of who he plays.
The semi-final opponent will be the winner of the match between the third-seeded Nicolas Jarry from Chile and the sixth-seeded Tomas Martin Etcheverry from Argentina.