Just a few days after his amazing Wimbledon Championships triumph, Carlos Alcaraz made it back to the courts and while he flirted with the loss he ultimately won his first-ever Hopman Cup match.
Alcaraz signed up to play the Hopman Cup weeks ago and the Spaniard followed up on his promise even though many expected him to pull out. After all, it was only five days ago that he produced a stunning effort to beat Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final.
The organizers already took a hit with a few players withdrawing, including Paula Badosa who was supposed to play with Alcaraz at the competition. Instead of Badosa, Rebeka Masarova signed up for the event and she put forward a solid effort earlier today against Elise Mertens.
The Belgian won which put David Goffin in a rather simple situation. Win and his team win the tie and for a good part of this match, Goffin truly looked on the cusp of victory. He took the opening set after a lot of battling.
Alcaraz was actually the first player to create a break chance but he didn't convert it. Goffin broke for the 2-1 lead but lost his serve immediately. The Belgian broke once more for the 4-3 lead and this time it proved enough to win the set. The second set opened with an early break for Goffin once more though but again Alcaraz would not give up and broke back.
Even so, Goffin broke for the 4-3 lead immediately after getting broken but once again it didn't prove enough. Alcaraz was clearly off today struggling with his timing which wasn't a surprise and neither was him playing better as the match went on.
He actually pulled out the second set 6-4 and then outplayed Goffin in the match tiebreak 10-8 to secure the win for Spain. This means we'll be seeing a mixed doubles match later to decide the winner of the tie. It's going to be the first mixed doubles match of Alcaraz's career.
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