A wondrous Carlos Alcaraz display helped the Spaniard surpass another milestone against Tallon Griekspoor at the China Open.
Carlos Alcaraz’s sharp start in Beijing continued on Sunday with a comprehensive victory against Tallon Griekspoor.
Extended his unbeaten run to four against the Dutchman, Alcaraz waltzed to a more convincing victory than their recent Olympic clash.
Alcaraz won 100 percent of first-serve points during the brief encounter he restricted to just 57 minutes.
In parallel to the increasingly delicate shots deployed by Alcaraz, the 21-year-old also incorporated his pace and power to advance to the last eight.
A huge second serve ace capped off a supreme performance for the Spaniard, as he advances to face Russia’s Karen Khachanov in the quarter-finals.
Record-breaking Carlos Alcaraz leapfrogs Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic
Some players have standard habits on tour – a big serve, short shorts, or a frighteningly regular racquet smash.
For Alcaraz, he has made breaking records a seemingly inherent part of his immediately glittering career.
His win was his 200th of his career making him the third player born in the 2000s to achieve this feat after Jannik Sinner and Felix Auger-Aliassime.
More importantly however his 200th win – his 100th coincidentally also came against Griekspoor – places him second behind John McEnroe as the fastest player of all world number one’s to notch up 200 wins.
Having suffered just 52 defeats in that time, seven more than McEnroe, Alcaraz goes ahead of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, who is now relegated to third place.
“I’m really happy about it – 200 wins is a great number,” Alcaraz said of his latest achievement to the ATP. “But I am already looking for the third hundred. I just want to keep going, to keep rolling. I am looking forward to playing matches and to keep doing the things that I am doing.”
Carlos Alcaraz is back on song after a rocky US Open
Olympic heartbreak certainly seemed to still be weighing heavy as he dusted off the clay to move to the North American hard courts.
A finalist in Cincinnati last year, Alcaraz came undone by French veteran Gael Monfils in a fiery and emotional opening match.
Later losing in the second round of the US Open to Botic van de Zandschulp, the 21-year-old looked out-of-sorts as the Asian swing approached.
A significant momentum swing followed with the world number three bossing his two Davis Cup matches before picking up a record eight points at the Laver Cup, including a winner-takes-all match against US Open runner-up Taylor Fritz.
Alcaraz, for use of a better phrase, is well and truly back.
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