Tomás Etcheverry pushed Alcaraz for over two hours, he won in Monte Carlo | OneFootball

The Rainier III stadium witnessed a real thriller. Carlos Alcaraz (ATP No. 1) advanced to the quarterfinals of the Monte Carlo Masters 1000 after defeating Argentine Tomás Etcheverry (No. 30) 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 in two hours and 24 minutes of play. In doing so, the player from Murcia avoided what could have been a major upset by the man from La Plata and secured a place among the final eight in the Monaco tournament.

The start of the match was very favorable for the Spaniard. With three breaks in the first four games on the Argentine’s serve, the world No. 1 built the necessary edge to take the set comfortably 6-1 in just 26 minutes.

The match changed considerably in the second set, as it was the South American who struck first, while his opponent looked more erratic. In the end, the man from La Plata managed to close it out 6-4 to send the match into the decider. During several stretches of the contest, Alcaraz could be seen frustrated, uncomfortable, and in frequent conversation with his bench.

In the third, the play remained evenly matched, but on the scoreboard the player from El Palmar was able to break the deadlock quickly. He then managed to maintain his advantage on the scoreboard and sealed it 6-3.

At ATP level, his record against Argentine players is overwhelmingly favorable, with the Spaniard posting 17 wins and just one loss. That lone defeat came against Federico Coria in Rio de Janeiro (2020) by 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. Marco Trungelliti, meanwhile, also had the pleasure of beating him at the Gran Canaria 2 Challenger (2021) by 7-6 (5), 6-3. Against Etcheverry in particular, the only previous meeting had come at the Trieste Challenger (2020), with a win for Carlitos by 7-6 (2), 6-3.

In addition to the title defense, the reigning Australian Open champion arrived in Monaco with the difficult goal of holding on to the No. 1 ranking. With Jannik Sinner (No. 2) very close behind, the Spaniard knows he will have to go deep in the tournament to stay at the top.

After receiving a bye in the first round, Alcaraz’s run in the Monaco tournament had begun with a straightforward win over Sebastián Báez (No. 65) by 6-1, 6-3. Etcheverry, for his part, had defeated Grigor Dimitrov (No. 93) and Terence Atmane (No. 45) to reach the round of 16 for the first time.

For now, on his road to defending the crown, the 22-year-old already has his next opponent confirmed: Alexander Bublik (No. 11). Interestingly, the Monte Carlo quarterfinal clash will be the first meeting between Samuel López’s pupil and the Kazakh.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.