A hard-fought Cincinnati return: Carlos Alcaraz digs deep for a three-set victory on his hardcourt comeback

Carlos Alcaraz fought for a complicated victory against world No. 56 Damir Dzumhur in his debut at the Cincinnati Open. The world No. 2’s level dropped and he had to fight into the third set, but he ultimately looked imposing to secure a victory by 6-1, 2-6, 6-3.

It was Carlos's first match since the defeat in the Wimbledon final and marked his return to hardcourts. We must remember that in the initial part of the year he had some missteps on hardcourts, the last of them a painful defeat in the first round of the Miami Open against David Goffin.

The five-time Grand Slam champion will extend his streak in Masters 1000 tournaments—after obtaining consecutive titles at the Monte-Carlo Masters and Rome—with his 12th consecutive victory in tournaments of this category, the longest streak of his career at this level.

The start of the match was easy for Alcaraz, who, with massive support from the crowd, went for the break from the beginning. He wasted a couple of chances in the first game and Dzumhur started with difficulties, while Carlos took his first service game easily.

The dominance of the first set was quickly established by the five-time Grand Slam champion, who got three consecutive breaks and did not concede a single opportunity on his serve. The score was 6-1 after 29 minutes, in which Alcaraz took 70% of the service points and 62% in return points, an eloquent set of numbers for the Spaniard.

Everything seemed like an easy day for an Alcaraz who was giving no chances on his serve, but Dzumhur managed to restart his game in the second part. He held his first couple of service games without even conceding points, and he took his first break opportunity in the third game to take the lead. When the score was 3-1 in favor of the Bosnian, Alcaraz was serving at 40-15, but he entered a streak of unforced errors that ended with a practically gifted break in favor of Dzumhur.

The world No. 56 was ahead 5-1, taking advantage of Alcaraz's unforced errors—a total of 16 in the second set—and ended up taking the set 6-2. It took the Bosnian 31 minutes to put Alcaraz under pressure, and he was rewarded for staying calm and waiting for his opponent's mistakes.

Dzumhur had maintained his patience in the second set, waiting for his opportunity, and ended up complicating things for Alcaraz. At the start of the third set, both began with good service games, remaining tied. Alcaraz got a couple of break opportunities in the fourth game and, with a display of hierarchy, took the lead, going up to 4-1 thanks to his serve.

However, the Bosnian still had something to say, taking advantage of Alcaraz's poor 52% first-serve percentage throughout the set, breaking back and preparing to serve at 3-4, in search of tying the match. Alcaraz would not allow things to get too complicated and ended up getting a break back that put him in the lead again, before stepping on the accelerator and securing the victory 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 to advance to the third round of the Cincinnati Open.

Alcaraz had been especially erratic throughout the match. In fact, he committed a total of 44 unforced errors by the end of the match—20 of them with his forehand. His next challenge will be against the winner between Tallon Griekspoor (26th seed) and Hamad Medjedovic.