Carlos Alcaraz turns on afterburners as Matteo Arnaldi blows four set points with seismic scare averted

Carlos Alcaraz was forced to dig himself out of a precarious hole in his second round clash at the Japan Open. From 5-2 down in the first set tiebreak, he was flawless the rest of the match to defeat Matteo Arnaldi 7-6(6), 6-1.

There has been a trend not just in Tokyo but also at the China Open in Beijing surrounding the top players. The workload put in after the Laver Cup is proving detrimental, with many of them having already fallen.

In the Japanese capital, surprisingly just two seeds remain. The 2025 Shanghai Masters champion Valentin Vacherot and Alcaraz. The Spaniard is looking to become the first player to defend his title since Pete Sampras in the 1994 edition.

He had to scrambe his way past a defiant Alex Michelsen in three sets to commence his title defence, and it could have got a lot more sketchy against the Roland Garros semi-finalist. Alcaraz showed his class at the end to survive what would have been a ginormous upset and is the overwhelming favourite to seal this title. If he can fully adapt to the scenery once more, he will be almost unstoppable after clawing his way through the opening rounds.

Alcaraz started on the front foot, sailing into a 0-40 lead before breaking with a third break point. His advantage did not remain for long, with his Italian foe getting the match on serve three games later. Alcaraz was pushed on serve, but no more break points would crop up in the set.

Subsequently, a tiebreak was confirmed. Arnaldo bossed proceedings from the off, sprinting into a 5-1 lead before creating four set points for himself. It seemed almost certain that he would win the first set, but Alcaraz clapped back. The 23-year-old won six points on the spin to not only save those set points but also to create and take one of his own in brilliant circumstances.

From that point onwards, it felt like only one winner would come from this tussle. In the first four games of the second set, Alcaraz broke twice in deuce with two holds to love coming beforehand. He had dropped just one point on serve en route it 5-0.

Arnaldi finally got on the board before finding himself 15-40 to the good against the Alcaraz serve. He dearly needed to convert one of these break points if he was going to keep his rather slim hopes alive, but nevertheless it all came swiftly crashing down. Alcaraz won the remaining four points and books his spot in the quarter-finals for the second year running.

Following the match, Alcaraz spoke in a post-match interview about how he managed to get out of the tricky spot he originally found himself in. "Well, obviously, when you’re down 6-2 in the tiebreaker, you’re thinking about, all right, I should do something different in the second set, trying to be better and obviously win that in three sets," he said.

"But, you know, obviously, I just try to stay there, point after point. I think I changed a little bit how I played until that moment, and it worked out. So, just happy that I got the first set. I think he was playing an unbelievable game. I think he was killing the forehand and I was out of the zone every time. So, I’m just, as I said, happy that I got it.

"Obviously, that made me come back on court in the second set more relaxed, you know, thinking about the things that I got to do, that I worked out, you know, from the 6-2 until the 8-6 in the tiebreaker. And I think everything went pretty well. He made a couple of mistakes and made me go into the game again. So, just happy that I won in straight sets."

He saw it as an honour to be held with such esteem by his opponents. "Well, I mean, obviously, I would say every player that I played against me, they feel like they have to increase their level a little bit if they want to win against you. I would say it is a compliment for me. That means, you know, I have great tennis, you know, on court. I think they feel like a little bit, I don’t know, out of some, let’s say."

His next test is former Wimbledon semi-finalist Denis Shapovalov. Alcaraz won both prior editions without even dropping a set.

"I’ve got to be ready for that. I’ve got to be ready for everything they can do every time they step on the court. So, I know Denis, he plays great tennis, really aggressive one," the seven-time Grand Slam champion commented. "So, I’ve got to be ready to run, to defend, to attack, you know, everything that the match demands me to do. So, let’s see. I think it’s going to be a great match. I’m really looking forward to playing him once again."