Alcaraz debuts against Ramos-Viñolas with the opportunity to widen the gap with Djokovic

Albert Ramos-Vinolas, the man against whom he won, in Rio de Janeiro three years ago, his first match in an ATP tournament, the player against whom he saved a match point in the second round of the last edition of Roland Garros, will be This Saturday (around 1:00 p.m., Movistar Deporte) Carlos Alcaraz's first rival in his debut at the Masters 1000 in Rome, a tournament he has never played and from where he will leave on the 22nd, whatever happens, number 1 of the world.

Since he successfully defended his title at the Masters 1000 in Madrid, after doing so two weeks earlier in Barcelona, Alcaraz had already ensured, with his mere presence at the Foro Italico, opening his twenty-third week at the top of the ranking, in which It will be his third stage at the helm of the ATP.

The defeat of Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals in Banja Luka and his absence from the Caja Mágica, together with the successive successes of the Spaniard, who appears in the Italian capital with 29 wins and two losses this season, resulted in his immediate replacement. in the elite. Djokovic, who in 2022 won his sixth title in Rome, cannot score points in this edition. The Serbian beat Tomás Martín Etecheverry 7-6 (5) and 6-2 this Friday and will play on Sunday in the third round against Grigor Dimitrov.

It remains to be seen how much Alcaraz can widen the gap on his immediate pursuer, who might not even be Djokovic.. Daniil Medvedev follows the trail of the Balkan and has options to beat him to enter Roland Garros in a better position, which begins on the 28th.

If the Murcian, who this year has only lost one match of the 20 played on clay in 2023 (the final in Rio, against Cameron Norrie), wins the title, he would take at least 1,395 points ahead of Nole.

Just turned 20, who celebrated in Madrid by beating Borna Coric in the semifinals, and already with 10 titles to his credit, the also champion in Indian Wells and Buenos Aires, also leads the Race, the classification that only computes the results of the current season.