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Carlos Alcaraz produced a burst of untouchable clay-court tennis Thursday on the Hamburg European Open to beat a sluggish begin in a 7-6(4), 6-3 victory in opposition to Filip Krajinovic.
Whereas the Serbian matched the highest seed blow for blow within the opening set and served for the set at 5-4, Alcaraz started to seek out his high stage on the essential second. He saved 4 set factors in that 5-4 sport, then reeled off 5 straight factors to win the tie-break from 2/4.
On that 2/4 level, Alcaraz went from protection to offense as he punished a floated Krajinovic volley to get again on serve. That escape opened the floodgates for a barrage of Alcaraz winners which sealed the set and shifted the momentum firmly onto his facet.
The Spaniard raced to a double-break benefit at 4-1 within the second set behind extra heavy hitting. Regardless of giving one break again, Alcaraz closed out the match with ease to arrange a quarter-final showdown with Karen Khachanov. The unseeded Khachanov defeated Fabio Fognini 6-3, 7-5 earlier on Thursday.
With the victory, Alcaraz improved to 22-2 on clay this season, his 22 victories joint-most alongside Casper Ruud (22-7), who was victorious in Gstaad on Thursday. Alcaraz is searching for his fourth clay title on the 12 months; he leads the ATP Tour with three such trophies up to now (Rio de Janeiro, Barcelona, Madrid) along with his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title on the Miami arduous courts. Alcaraz’s 4 tour-level titles match Rafael Nadal‘s 4 for probably the most total in 2022.
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