Carlos Alcaraz firing on all cylinders! Second consecutive thrashing in Rotterdam
ATP
Carlos Alcaraz has lost just six games in his last two matches at the ABN AMRO Open in Rotterdam. After delivering a commanding 6-2, 6-1 victory over Andrea Vavassori in the round of 16, the Spaniard showed no mercy against Pedro Martínez, defeating him by the same scoreline.
He is still wearing a nasal strip to help him breathe better and blowing his nose during changeovers, but apart from that, Alcaraz is proving that his health is in top shape. He is displaying his best tennis of the season so far, steamrolling anyone who stands in his way.
Just like in yesterday's match, these two sets had little history. Pedro Martínez holds up better in baseline rallies than Vavassori, but he lacks the Italian’s serve. And Carlitos is a killer on the court—if he smells blood, he will go for it. He punished Martínez on return whenever he had the chance.
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Alcaraz continues working on his new serve
Once again, he had the opportunity to focus on what he worked on during the preseason regarding his serve. The difference in power was too much for his opponent. The numbers don’t lie—the gap in winners between the two was staggering. On top of that, the world No. 3 made even fewer unforced errors than usual.
It’s true that he hasn’t faced any player considered world-class yet, but he is showing clear improvement with each match. His real first test, and perhaps the toughest challenge he could face this week (with all due respect to Alex de Minaur), awaits him in the semifinals.
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He will take on the winner of the match between Hubert Hurkacz and Andrey Rublev. The Polish player is one of the best servers on tour and a specialist on indoor hard courts, while the Russian seems to be slowly recovering from a dreadful start to the 2025 season.
Smooth sailing for @carlosalcaraz ⛴️
— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) February 7, 2025
The No. 1 seed defeated Martinez 6-2, 6-1 and reaches his first semifinal in Rotterdam!
Could Alcaraz win his first indoor title this week? 🤔 #abnamroopen pic.twitter.com/knXTwmmSGl
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mandoist07-02-2025 - Ouch!!mandoist07-02-2025
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Sueiyin04-02-2025 - "If Novak did this, he would be defaulted for life. WTF." 🤣 WTF sounds like What Tennis Fury?! What Tennis Flurry??! I mean, se-rious-ly, it was actually the unfairness of the silly umpire's decision that is the issue here! Further, how come it was Gurin & his team who got disqualified? If this kind of thing happens in soccer, it would be the other guy getting the yellow or red card! Because after all, it was the Belgian who's foul it was so why then penalize the opponents for something they didn't instigate? Fouls in both basketball and soccer are read as a hinderance that has been caused by the player who INITIALLY instigated the hinderance. In this case, okay, it is tennis, but while the precise rules are different to either soccer or basketball, the same type of recognition as to whoever instigates a hinderance should apply, and in this case, it was the Belgian player.Sueiyin04-02-2025
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