Carlos Alcaraz made his return to tennis at the China Open, and he overcame a solid effort from Yannick Hanfmann.
The German player is quite solid and has had a pretty decent year so far. He's been really good at times in his career and certainly can play well, which he demonstrated today. The conditions suit his type of tennis well, and he certainly gave Alcaraz some problems, but much of that had to do with Alcaraz not using his chances.
This was the first match for the Spaniard since his US Open exit to Daniil Medvedev, and it was a win, so that's good. The opening set was okay, but nothing special. Alcaraz was up a break twice but gave it back each time until he finally got it done 6-4.
He had 11 break points and used 3 of them, which isn't much. Yes, he broke his opponent three times in the set, but he wasted so many chances, and it's been a trend with him. He tends to miss out on a lot of break points. He did a bit better in the second set using two of the five he faced, but it still wasn't his best.
Nobody really expected him to play his best considering that it was his first match in a while but he won in straight sets and that was good. The approach was pretty aggressive overall and quite precise as he had 20 winners and 9 unforced errors.
He didn't serve as well but that's one part of his game that can be better and should be better in the future. Having more double faults than aces is a problem, though, and she should try to avoid that as the event progresses. Next up is Lorenzo Musetti, a tough, but a challenge he should pass comfortably.
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