The second round match at Roland Garros has been a bigger challenge than Carlos Alcaraz initially expected. Against Jesper De Jong, he has managed to qualify for the third round of the tournament by winning 3-6, 4-6, 6-2, 2-6.
First set.
The match started off uphill for Alcaraz. In the first set, Carlitos suffered a break by De Jong that put the Dutchman 2-0 up on the scoreboard. However, the Spaniard responded with forcefulness breaking his opponent's serve next, and with a game in white. Confirming the break, equality was restored.
But this equality was not to last long, as at 3-3 Alcaraz again dealt a blow to De Jong with a new break. Although the Dutchman got a 0-40 immediately after for Alcaraz not to confirm the break, the Spaniard managed to lift the three opportunities of his rival. This would leave De Jong very touched, and with 3-5, he suffered a break so that Carlitos could close the first set 3-6 on his first set point, and start the second serving.
Second set
Carlos Alcaraz had managed to increase the pace as the first set was coming to an end, and it was up to him to take advantage of the good feelings in a second set that, if won, would leave Jesper De Jong very hurt. The second set was to enjoy many break points, but none of them were to be materialized by either player until 4-5. Until that moment, Alcaraz had had 8 break points and had not won any, and De Jong, for his part, 2 in total and none won.
It would be at 4-5 when, with 30-40 in his favor, Carlos Alcaraz got a crucial break to take the second set 4-6 and, as in the first, start serving in the third set.
Third set.
From this moment on the match would take a completely different course, to the surprise of all the fans. Alcaraz lost his serve at 1-1, and after Jesper De Jong had broken back to make it 3-1, he broke the Spaniard's serve again to take a 4-1 lead. Winning also his serve at 5-1, the set was very close for the Dutchman, who was going to close it with his serve for 6-2.
Fourth set.
Carlitos was completely out of the match mentally, and would start the fourth set losing his serve for De Jong to get 1-0 with the possibility of going up to 2-0. However, the Spaniard managed to react and break the Dutchman's serve to bring the score back to even, 1-1.
The joy was not to last practically nothing for Alcaraz, as he lost his serve again at the hands of De Jong, who was very much in the match and did not forgive the Spaniard a single mistake. Even so, Carlitos managed to respond again in the face of adversity, and got another break to make it 2-2.
At this point, the Spaniard was going to stop fooling around and recover the level shown especially in the first set. In fact, Alcaraz was not going to allow Jesper De Jong to win a single game more in the whole match, and the Spaniard managed to close with two consecutive breaks and holding his serve to win the final set 2-6.
Alcaraz d. De Jong 6-3 6-4 2-6 6-2 at Roland Garros Carlos was playing incredible tennis last year before getting injured. He’d only lost 1 set en route to the SF. This year, he’s coming off an injury & is shaking off some rust ✅20th win of 2024 But getting the job done. 🇪🇸
