Alcaraz enters the third round after dropping a set against Daniel, 112th
Given the nature of the events, the way in which the boy tends to get rid of his opponents, the rhythm that he gives to each and every one of the matches, the presence of Carlos Alcaraz could be narrated based on the amount of damage caused in who dared to stand before him. If in the first game, the young Italian Flavio Cobolli, coming from the previous one, managed to clean up a result that seemed catastrophic for him, this Wednesday Taro Daniel, a thirty-year-old without much to tell in his already long career on the circuit, seemed to continue a similar fate against the world number 1 and great favorite to lift the title.
The Japanese, ranked 112th in the world, nevertheless sent a warning to the great protagonist of the season, who dropped his first set in the second round of the tournament, before winning 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 and 6- 2, in two hours and 25 minutes to face Denis Shapovalov this Friday. It is not so much that the victims left the gallows resigned from the start as the superiority that the champion marked very soon this year in Indian Wells, Madrid, Barcelona and Buenos Aires.
Perhaps Daniel, before entering Philippe Chatrier, on a windy afternoon and without all the paper sold, wanted to bring to his memory the match they played two years ago in the Oeiras challenger, in which he put a reasonable price on his head , falling 6-2, 5-7 and 6-2, although it is already known how Alcaraz has run since then, the dizzying pace of his growth without measure.
The script was messed up
In 31 minutes, the Japanese was already 6-1 down, subjected to the murderous timing of the reigning US Open champion. He couldn't stand his ball speed nor did he find any way to close the gap in Alcaraz's debut this year at the center. Everything was going according to the planned script until the Spaniard, perhaps accommodated by the ease with which he handled the game, left a door ajar through which good Daniel slipped quietly.
Whether it was the wind, detrimental to both, overconfidence or imprecision in his shots, or it was a conglomeration of all this, the truth is that the Japanese recovered his self-esteem and began to play longer, hurting Alcaraz in particular with its tuned reverse. Obtained his just prize, he saw how the Murcian recovered order and success. Spectacular point of the sixth game of the third set, with 5-0 for Alcaraz, whose narration will not do justice: left, contradejada, willy (ball returned between the legs) and contrawilly, until 30-15 for the Spaniard.
Daniel's trajectory in the clay season was not a factor of concern: he stayed in the Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome qualifiers, in the first round of the ATP 250 in Banja Luka, in the quarterfinals of the Cagliari challenger and in the round of 16 of the challenger of Rome. Winner five years ago, on the clay of Istanbul, of the only title of his career, the tennis player born in New York fought until he took Alcaraz to four sets, which is not little in these times.