Carlos Alcaraz shows his strength and wins in straight sets against Gregoire Barrere in his debut at Shanghai Masters
ATP
In his debut at the Shanghai Masters, Carlos Alcaraz has offered a good start to his participation in the ATP 1000 against the French Gregoire Barrere. The Spaniard defeated the world number 73 in straight sets by 6-2, 7-5.
In the first set Alcaraz had practically no problem taking the set. Barrere started serving and at the first change gave up the first break of the match. At 0-1, the world number 2 faced two break balls at 15-40, but the Spaniard was able to lift them and certify the previous break. Then he would chain another break, and winning his serve he was comfortably 4-0 up.
Even so, 'Carlitos' was going to have some setbacks later on. After taking a 4-1 lead, Barrere would have three consecutive break chances to take a 0-40 lead. But Alcaraz was not going to let the Frenchman have a chance to come back, and he was going to raise them all to take a 5-1 lead. After Gregoire Barrere won his serve again, the Spaniard managed to take the first set 6-2.
So far, we were seeing a very solid version of Carlos Alcaraz in Shanghai. The Spaniard has recently admitted that one of his main problems is the lack of forcefulness he has in break chances, and that it is very difficult for him to win them. However, the first two that he had today he managed to materialize, and that was the key to win the first set.
In the second set the situation would be much more even. Barrere was going to be more solid with his first serves, and until 3-3 there was not going to be any break point for either side. Alcaraz was going to break his opponent's serve to take a 4-3 lead, but incomprehensibly he was going to give up his next serve for the Frenchman to bring the score back to level: 4-4 and nothing had happened here.
The tie would extend until 5-5, where the key moment of the match would come. Carlos Alcaraz got a crucial break at the second opportunity he had, and was ahead 6-5 to only have to win the next game with his serve to take the match. And so it was to be, and after a very tough second set Alcaraz managed to qualify for the next round.
In the third round of the Shanghai Masters, Carlos Alcaraz will play against the winner of the match between Mikhail Kukushkin and Dan Evans;
Samuel GillEditor-in-Chief
Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of TennisUpToDate.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces across the TennisUpToDate network, playing a central role in the daily operation and development of the site.
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