After winning the 2022 Barcelona Open, all eyes were on Carlos Alcaraz ahead of the 2022 Madrid Open as he suddenly became one of the biggest favorites to win the title.
Last year, Alcaraz played at the Madrid Open as a young up-and-coming player and lost to Rafael Nadal on his birthday when he managed to win only three games against the Spanish legend.
However, his career has escalated quickly since then, and now, one year later, he's one of the favorites at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in the Spanish capital. In Barcelona, Alcaraz defeated Soonwoo Kwon, Jaume Munar, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alex de Minaur, and Pablo Carreno-Busta to lift the title.
In Madrid, he kicked off his campaign against Nikoloz Basilashvili, who won his first match in the Spanish capital against Fabio Fognini, beating the Italian 7-5, 6-4.
In his second-round match, however, the Georgian had to play against a much stronger opponent, as the home crowd favorite and seventh seed Alcaraz stood in his way.
In the first set, the 18-year-old Spaniard found himself down 1-3 after losing his serve quite early. However, then he went on a five-game winning streak to win the first set 6-3 and get the important lead in the match.
However, he didn't start the second set well as he found himself down 0-2 and later also 3-5, as his opponent was serving for the second set.
But the young Spaniard showed how calm he could be once again when he managed to win four games in a row to win the match 6-3, 7-5, and advance into the next round.
In the next round, he will take on the winner of the match between Cameron Norrie and John Isner in a match that could be played on his birthday.
Alcaraz can experience one more similarity with last year's tournament, as he can also meet Rafael Nadal again. This time, their meeting would happen in the quarter-final and it would be already after his birthday.
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