Carlos Alcaraz is yet another step closer to a match with Novak Djokovic at the 2023 Roland Garros after beating Lorenzo Musetti.
With the echoes of Novak Djokovic's victory still ringing on the Court Philippe-Chatrier, Carlos Alcaraz stepped up to replicate the Serbian's dominant performance, reaching the quarterfinals with an equally impressive win over Lorenzo Musetti from Italy.
The young Spaniard's performance was as scintillating as it was ruthless, as he responded to losing the opening two games by claiming 18 of the next 23, hitting with both power and precision from the baseline and showcasing a delicate touch at the net.
Prior to the match, the 20-year-old knew that his Italian opponent presented a real threat as he defeated him at the 2022 Hamburg Open, in their only meeting on the ATP Tour, as Alcaraz won their only meeting that was played on the ATP Challenger Tour in Trieste.
Coming into the fourth-round match, Alcaraz was in very good form, previously dominating against Denis Shapovalov and even being confident enough to say that he is a complete player.
The Spaniard lost the opening two games but he was unstoppable after that. Breaking Musetti twice in the opening set, the top seed was able to win that one 6-3 and assure fans that there will be no upset on the Court Philippe-Chatrier on Sunday.
He followed up on that performance also in the second set, this time with three breaks of serve, and despite being broken once, it was enough for Alcaraz to win the second set, once again comfortably, 6-2.
The third set saw the Spaniard in control of what was happening on the court, in total, he hit 42 winners during the match and made only 23 unforced errors, winning the match 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 by the very same scoreline as Djokovic won his match before him on the same court.
In the quarterfinals, he will take on the winner of the match between the fifth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas and Sebastian Ofner. After the match, Alcaraz was happy with the win, saying:
"I think I played such a great level. A really high quality of shots, playing really aggressive. I think I played a really complete match, [from the] first ball to the last one, and I’m really happy to get through this really tough round against Lorenzo."
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