Carlos Alcaraz defeats Vavassori to reach 42nd tour-level quarter-final in Rotterdam

Carlos Alcaraz continued his quest for a maiden indoor trophy in style Thursday night at the ABN AMRO Open in Rotterdam.

The top seed at the ATP 500 put on a show to ease past qualifier and doubles World No. 11 Andrea Vavassori 6-2, 6-1 in an entertaining second-round clash. Alcaraz set the tone with a dazzling behind-the-back shot followed by a backhand winner in the second game before motoring to a 63-minute victory to reach his fourth indoor quarter-final (2-1).

“It comes naturally in the moment,” Alcaraz said when asked of the behind-the-back shot. “There are a lot of situations that you cannot practise. You just improvise a little bit and it happens. Getting the win is really important, but I’m here to entertain the people, make them happy and enjoy watching my matches. I’m not looking to do it in every match, but if it comes, it’s really good.”

After a testing Rotterdam debut against Botic van de Zandschulp, which he won in three sets, Alcaraz asserted his dominance early in Thursday’s encounter with Vavassori. With partner Simone Bolelli, Vavassori qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals in his hometown Turin last year, but the Italian was unable to impose his net-charging style against Alcaraz, who picked him off with a barrage of passing shots.

“Today was much better,” said Alcaraz. “Everytime that I leave the court, I’m always thinking how I can be better. That’s what happened after the first round. I just tried to be focused on the things that I had to improve from the first round. Not making too many mistakes, not having too many ups and downs in the match. If I’m a break up, just to keep going with the same intensity. That’s what I tried today, I think what I did was pretty good. After these types of matches, my confidence goes up.”

The No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings and four-time major champion won 85 per cent (22/27) of first-serve points, according to Infosys ATP Stats, to reach his 42nd tour-level quarter-final. Alcaraz, who last year became the first player to win ATP 500 titles on clay, grass and hard courts, will next face Pedro Martinez in an all-Spanish matchup.

Martinez defeated fifth seed Holger Rune 6-4, 6-1 to advance to his 15th ATP Tour quarter-final. The Spaniard kept his composure to notch an 88-minute victory over an out-of-sorts Rune — his first against a Top 20 opponent on hard courts. Rune, the No. 14 in the PIF ATP Rankings, called for the physio after dropping the first set, but ultimately could not contain his unforced error count, which hit 44 by the end of the second-round match.