China Open: Alcaraz kickstart Beijing campaign with victory

Carlos Alcaraz returned to china with a very good performance, played great to beat Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in 81 minutes and reach the second round in Beijing on Friday.

The 21-year-old Spaniard who was a semifinalist in 2023, eased past Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 6-4, 6-4 for his fifth consecutive wins since the US Open.

“The plan was just to put as many returns in as I can,” said Alcaraz. “Honestly it wasn’t easy. He was serving 230 or 240 [km/h] almost every serve. Second set, 210 or 215. So, it wasn’t easy to play against him. He’s a really powerful player. Big serve, big shots from the baseline. So I had to be really focused. That was the plan. Try to not make too many mistakes and play aggressive from the baseline.”

“In the first game of the match I returned pretty well and played good points from the baseline,” reflected Alcaraz. “In the first game of the second set, he did three double faults, so it helped me a lot to break the serve. After that I had to be really focused for the next games, and I’m really happy I did it.”

After securing victory in just his third tour-level match against a younger opponent, Alcaraz improved to 44-9 for the season. The Spaniard, whose qualification for the Nitto ATP Finals was confirmed earlier this week, will take on Tallon Griekspoor in the second round.