Carlos Alcaraz is in the 3rd round of Wimbledon after cruising past Alexandre Muller in straight sets extending his winning streak.
The Spaniard is turning into a grass specialist adding a 7th consecutive win on grass this year. The Spaniard had an epiphany at the Cinch Championships recently winning 5 matches including the final against Alex de Minaur to win his maiden ATP grass trophy.
The win got him quite excited about Wimbledon as he started to believe in his own potential on the surface and possibly going deep at the event. There was some serious doubt in his mind before he touched any grass in London but things have been working out really well for him. A minor injury in the final though left fans worried about his status.
In typical Alcaraz fashion he played it down but then withdrew from both Hurlingham exhibition matches he was scheduled to play. Fears didn't last long as he dispelled them rather quickly with an impressive showing in the first round sending Jeremy Chardy into retirement.
Another French player awaited in the second round though the timing of that match became quite controversial. Rainy weather caused a lot of problems for organizers who were under fire from fans for giving some players 'preferential' treatment. For example, Alcaraz was supposed to play his 2nd round match on the same day when some of his quarter companions were supposed to play their 1st round match.
It would have given him an unfair advantage which prompted the organizers to make changes and push back his match to today though it didn't make any difference for him. He played a really solid match and won it in three sets. The first set was quite competitive as his opponent didn't really show any worry about facing the number one player in the world.
He produced a solid effort to push Alcaraz heavily in some rallies forcing him to risk a bit more than advised. 15 unforced errors in 10 games of the first set was a bit too much but that aggressive plya proved vital in winning the set 6-4. He had 8 winners compared to 5 from Muller which aided him in the effort to win the set.
The second set was quite similar in the way it was played because Alcaraz once again proved the more aggressive player. He had more errors but also more winners than his opponent and it worked out well. Things only unclustered in the tiebreak but it was a simple one won 7-2 by the Spaniard.
The final set was again quite similar to the previous two. Alcaraz once again was the more dominant player and applied pressure on his opponent which ultimately paid off towards the end of the match. The Spaniard broke late and finished it off in the next game after some heavy battling. Muller wasted two break points in that game.
Overall Alcaraz had a more composed approach in this set not pushing things too much and it showed an increased maturity which he lacked a bit in the Roland Garros showdown with Novak Djokovic. The final score was 6-4 7-6(2) 6-3 for Alcaraz who had 5 aces and 31 winners in this one.
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