Exactly three weeks after falling in the US Open semifinals, Carlos Alcaraz returned to competition on Friday at the China Open. The Spaniard defeated Yannick Hanfmann 6-4, 6-3 at the ATP 500 in Beijing to begin his return to the top of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. Alcaraz improved to 14-0 this season in first-round matches and 59-7 overall, his 59 wins leading the ATP Tour. Alcaraz also leads the ATP Tour in titles (8) and finals (6) this season, both career highs.
“I hope I have many years to come here to China. Creating my chapter here in China would be great for me,” Alcaraz said about his debut in the country. “Being able to finally come here to China and show my tennis in front of the Chinese people is something I have wanted for a long time and I am very happy to do it, hopefully it will be the first of many here.” Alcaraz started his career in Beijing strongly, with an early break, but showed signs of rust by twice losing a break in the first set. At 4-4, a hard forehand broke Hanfmann’s resistance, and he fought to save eight of the set’s 11 break points. Both players improved their serve in the second set, and Alcaraz’s early and late breaks were enough to take the set and the match.
The first seed did not have a break point in the second set, in which he worked hard, both with serve and from the baseline. He finished the match with five breaks achieved in 16 opportunities. Hanfmann pressured Alcaraz with powerful baseline shots and some successful drop shots, but Alcaraz was better in both respects overall and ultimately won the first Lexus ATP Head2Head match between the two in one hour and 37 minutes. “I am very happy to be able to win this match in consecutive sets,” said Alcaraz. “Yannick is playing very well. He is a very dangerous player, with great shots. In this match he played by throwing bombs, so I had to be very focused, trying not to let him dominate the match.” “I tried to focus on all facets of my game. I have to improve a little bit, so I’m very happy that I did it and that I have another chance to be better in the next round.” The Spaniard will face Italian Lorenzo Musetti, who beat Karen Khachanov 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 on Friday.
