Carlos Alcaraz was forced to battle his hardest to eke through his opening-round match at the Shanghai Masters.
After the marathon title grab in Beijing, Carlos Alcaraz is again tipped to face Jannik Sinner in the semi-final of the Shanghai Masters – the penultimate ATP 1000 event of the season – with the pair seeded first and third.
Forced to close out proceedings in the capital in a tie-break, the 21-year-old was again called into action about 1200km south.
Hometown hero Wu Yibing put up a serious fight in the opening set, forcing the four-time Grand Slam champion to bring out his best tennis.
After the set advantage fell the Spaniard’s way, a single break in the second was enough to see him over the finish line, relieved.
Carlos Alcaraz suggests Wu Yibing could rise to the top of the ATP rankings
The Chinese wildcard was not expected to compete as well as he did. Adored wherever he goes, Alcaraz still seemed to have at least half the love of a non-partisan crowd.
With the match fiercely competitive and decided by select moments of Alcaraz brilliance, the Spaniard was quick to laud his opponent after his eleventh consecutive win.
“He is recovering his level. He’s coming back from injury, but his level deserves to be at the top for sure,” Alcaraz said of Wu to the ATP. “If he keeps playing at this level, I’m pretty sure I’m going to see him around more often. I’m just really happy to get through.
“I don’t want to say I was surprised, but it was the first time I was playing against him. He just beat [Nicolas] Jarry really easily, 6-2, 6-2, so that’s impressive. I had to be focused on playing my best.
“I’m not used to feeling the feelings I had on the court,” Alcaraz confessed. “He is a really powerful player, plays really strong, so I felt like I was not dominating the game.”
Carlos Alcaraz is accelerating towards the Australian Open
The Australian Open remains the only Grand Slam Alcaraz has not got his hands on – in fact he’s yet to reach beyond the quarter-final.
Having lost out at that stage last year to Alexander Zverev, the Spaniard still has a few years to overtake Rafael Nadal as the youngest male player to win all four.
Despite the wobble in North America after his shock exits from the Cincinnati and US Open’s, the 21-year-old is beginning to whirr again.
A destruction of Ben Shelton and Taylor Fritz at the Laver Cup has been backed up by a win over the world number one and reigning Melbourne champion, his third victory over Sinner this year.
Despite the end of the season nigh, Alcaraz won’t be hitting the pause button anytime soon.
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