Carlos Alcaraz survived a tough battle with Dan Evans in the Round of 32 at the Rolex Shanghai Masters to ultimately win in straight sets, 7-6 (1), 6-4.

The top seed had defeated Gregoire Barrere 6-2, 7-5 in the first round while thirtieth seed Evans moved past Mikhail Kukushkin after the latter retired from their opening match to set up the clash with Alcaraz. 

The Spaniard dominates their head-to-head and led 3-0 prior to this match, having most recently ousted Evans in four sets at the US Open last month. At the start of their meeting at the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena, Alcaraz built up two break points before Evans took it to a deuce and held.

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Alcaraz fights back from a break down

Nevertheless, it was Evans who successfully converted the first break of the match after having secured himself three break points. Alcaraz fought back hard though and the Brit's next service game became a long and unrelenting one, lasting almost twenty minutes as they went back and forth on deuce.

After both had lost the advantage multiple times and Evans had fallen into the net on a particularly difficult rally, the Brit finally managed to secure a hold of serve.

However, this lead did not last long as Alcaraz leveled the set with a break in Evans' next service game. Following some more very close rallies, both players held until a tiebreak was required. It was at this point that Alcaraz started to pull away, getting the first mini-break before amassing five set points with a 6-1 lead. In the end, he only needed one of them and finally claimed the first set.

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The two-time Grand Slam champion had a slightly easier time in the second set, although it was still closely contested throughout.

Evans was able to break Alcaraz again but the 20-year-old broke back immediately. They then both held serve until the Spaniard was leading 5-4, when he secured a crucial break to win the set and the match.

José Morgado

@josemorgado

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Carlos Alcaraz wins a crazy 88-minute set of tennis against Dan Evans in Shanghai. 7-6(1). Now 18-9 on tiebreaks in 2023.

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