Alcaraz beats Cilic in straight units to advance at Qatar Open

Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz celebrates after successful his spherical of 32 match in opposition to Croatia’s Marin Cilic.
| Photograph Credit score: REUTERS

Prime-seeded Carlos Alcaraz overcame Croatian veteran Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-4 Monday to succeed in the spherical of 16 on the Qatar Open.

The 36-year-old Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open champion who has fallen to No. 192 within the rankings, was taking part in his first match of the season after recovering from a long-term knee damage. The Croatian led 4-3 and 0-40 on Alcaraz’s serve within the second set, however the Spanish four-time main winner managed to get well after which broke within the subsequent sport.

“I’m simply actually blissful that I stayed calm at that second, respiration, going by means of my routines, making good factors,” Alcaraz stated. “That’s why I used to be in a position to win in two units.”

Alcaraz will play both Zhang Zhizhen of China or Italy’s Luca Nardi subsequent.

Earlier, seventh-seeded Grigor Dimitrov misplaced 6-4, 6-4 to Jiri Lehecka.

Additionally on Monday, eighth-seeded Jack Draper beat Alexei Popyrin 6-2, 7-6 (4) to arrange a gathering with one other Australian, Christopher O’Connell.

A number of different high gamers will play their first matches on Tuesday.

Second-seeded Alex de Minaur will face Roman Safiullin. Novak Djokovic, who needed to pull out of his Australian Open semifinal with a hamstring damage, will tackle Matteo Berrettini.

Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Stefano Tsitsipas can even play on Tuesday.