Carlos Alcaraz drops set but manages victory against Fabio Fognini to advance into quarter-finals of Rio Open

Carlos Alcaraz continued his title defence at the Rio Open after defeating Fabio Fognini to reach the quarter-finals in a rollercoaster match that lasted two hours and 47 minutes.

In what was a rematch of last year’s semi-final, Alcaraz got over the line with a 6-7(5) 6-2 6-4 victory.

The opening set took over 64 minutes to finish with eight breaks of serve, before Fognini was able to edge the tie-breaker.

Alcaraz eventually found his rhythm in the second set, breaking twice to take it to a decider before breaking twice again to seal the match.

“It was really tough. Both Fabio and I played such a high level, great points, great shots,” Alcaraz said after his victory.

“It’s amazing to play these kinds of matches. I would say both players played almost our 100 per cent.

“I struggled with my serve a little bit. I was up with a lot of control of the match. But a lot of breaks of serve in a row,” the Spaniard continued.

“I got a little bit down in that moment, and it was tough to come back after that. But I know that a tennis match is really long. I was going to have my chances to improve the game on my serve, and I think I did.”

Alcaraz won the Argentina Open title last week against Cameron Norrie after only dropping one set throughout the whole competition. The Spaniard, who defeated Mateus Alves 6-4 6-4 in his first match in Rio de Janeiro, will now face Dusan Lajovic, who claimed victory over Laslo Djere in straight sets in his second round match.

It is Alcaraz’s second tournament of the season after he was sidelined for four months due to a right leg injury, missing out on the Australian Open in the process and losing the world No. 1 spot to Novak Djokovic.

After winning in Buenos Aires, he had a chance to draw level with Djokovic on points this week if he successfully defended his Rio title.

However, he will remain second in the rankings as the player who has more points from the ATP Finals, Grand Slams, and ATP Masters 1000s comes on top in the tie-breaker. Djokovic has managed 5,820 points at those tournaments, while Alcaraz has 5,090 in comparison.

Alcaraz spoke on losing top spot to Djokovic before the Rio Open, saying: “I am not a kid or a player who is happy with little things. I always want more, and we will look for it this week. The truth is that I don’t feel any pressure to fight with Djokovic to be the No 1.

“The truth is that I hope to have a beautiful year with beautiful tournaments, to be honest. I’ll have a little pressure because I’ll defend some important titles and play at a great level.

“But as I have said before, I’ll have to play match by match, enjoying it, more than having results. That is what I hope.”

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