Carlos Alcaraz He takes his goal of winning the title very seriously. Sunshine Double and it seems that he already found the formula to achieve it. After a perfect run of six wins without conceding a single set in Indian Wells, the young Spaniard already has two wins in the same way in Miami Openmanaging to settle without major blunderbuss in the round of 16.
His most recent victim was the Serb Dusan lajovic, whom he beat for the third time in a span of just six weeks, this time by partials of 6-0 and 7-6 (5). Thanks to this victory, Alcaraz has already settled in the round of the best 16 of the tournament and will now seek to overcome the American Tommy Paul, ranked number 19 in the world.
With this, the Spanish prodigy reached eight consecutive victories in the ATP Tour, recalling that his only loss so far this year was the ATP 500 final in Rio, in which he lost to the British Cameron Norrie. Since then, he has outplayed renowned tennis players like Felix Auger-Aliassime, Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev, his opponent in the Indian Wells final.
Since he began his journey in search of the Sunshine Double at the beginning of March, Alcaraz is 16-0 in sets, including two occasions in which he has left his rival without the possibility of winning a single game, as happened against the Argentine Facundo Bognis (6-2, 6-0) and now the Serbian Lajovic, both at the Miami Open.
“I come here without thinking that I am defending the tournament. I come here wanting to enjoy, to have a good time in each event together with my people, family and those who accompany me thinking about the game by game, not about what I have to defend or what happens if I don’t win. I try to put all those negative thoughts aside and focus on day to day, on what I have to improve, on what I have to do at all times”, Alcaraz mentioned after settling in the round of 16 of the Miami Masters.
In 31 minutes the first set was 6-0 and the Spaniard celebrated looking at his compatriot and coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, in the stands. Thanks to this remarkable effectiveness, the young man from Murcia equaled with this the statistic for the most sets won in Masters 1,000 before turning 20 along with another Iberian tennis player, Rafael Nadal, since both have four.
Alcaraz’s next test, in the round of 16, will be on Tuesday against Tommy Paul, one of the fittest tennis players on the circuit and who is supported by statistics, since he has won his last 12 matches against Spaniards. In fact, the American eliminated the Iberian Alejandro Davidovich on Sunday and won the only precedent against Alcaraz, last year at the Montreal Masters.
Until the moment of his victory over Lajovic, Alcaraz has already won more matches than the multi-time Grand Slam champion, Novak Djokovic, so far this season, with a balance of 16 against 15. Only four players are ahead of the youngster. Spanish in that statistic: Daniil Medvedev with 25, Cameron Norrie with 21, Taylor Fritz with 19 and Jannik Sinner with 17.
“I don’t consider myself perfect at all, I still make many mistakes both on the forehand and on the backhand, on the serve and in all aspects. I have always said that all players have to improve everything. You can never stagnate, in the end the world of tennis evolves and you must evolve as tennis grows”, highlighted Alcaraz, who seeks to maintain the top of the ATP ranking with the crown of the Miami Open, which concludes next Sunday.
