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Carlos Alcaraz overcame Gael Monfils in two sets (6-2, 6-4) and one hour and 14 minutes to seal his ticket to the round of 16 of the Miami Open, where he will face Lorenzo Musetti.
Carlos Alcaraz is heading towards the milestone of the ‘Sunshine Double’, that is, winning Indian Wells and the Miami Open consecutively, a feat that has only been achieved to date by Jim Courier, Michael Chang, Pete Sampras, Marcelo Ríos, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. And four tennis players in the women’s category: Steffi Graf, Kim Clijsters, Victoria Azarenka and Iga Swiatek. The Spaniard has rediscovered his best version after months of doubts and last night he overwhelmed the Frenchman Gael Monfils in an exercise of overwhelming superiority (6-2, 6-4). Juan Carlos Ferrero’s pupil sealed his ticket to the round of 16 in one hour and 14 minutes in a match in which the French tennis player had problems with his left foot.
After winning the Indian Wells tournament, Alcaraz continued his spectacular moment of play and confidence against Monfils. And that is despite the fact that the player from El Palmar saw how the match was very much in his face with 2-2 and 0-30 in favor, at which point Monfils hurt his left foot when he hit a backhand and went momentarily to the ground. That was the beginning of the torment for the French tennis player, overwhelmed from that moment by the volcanic tennis of Alcaraz, the hammer of the Spaniard’s forehand and the magic of his racket.
Alcaraz was unforgiving in the fifth game to get a break and tip the first set in his favor. He broke Monfils’ serve once again as a two-time grand slam winner to make it 6-2 on the Miami Open home court court.
Monfils tried to react in the second set, but against this version of Alcaraz he had no choice. The Frenchman surrendered his first serve in the second set and saw Alcaraz soar to 4-1, at which point the Spaniard’s only disconnection came. A break when serving to close out the match gave hope to a Monfils who managed to get closer (5-4) on the scoreboard. But the Spaniard did not want to make any more concessions and booked his ticket to the round of 16 on his next serve (6-4).
Carlos Alcaraz, who already won the Miami Open in 2022 and lost to Sinner in the semifinals last year, is aiming for the prestigious ‘Sunshine Double’, now four victories. Jim Courier (1991), Michael Chang (1992), Pete Sampras (1994), Chile’s Marcelo Ríos (1998) and Andre Agassi (2001) all achieved it once, but Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic signed the ‘Sunshine Double’ several times: three times in the case of the Swiss (2005, 2016 and 2017) and four times for the Serbian (2011, 2014, 2015, 2016). And four tennis players in the women’s category: Steffi Graf, Kim Clijsters, Victoria Azarenka and Iga Swiatek.
Lorenzo Musetti, Alcaraz’s next opponent in the round of 16
In the round of 16, Alcaraz faces the Italian Lorenzo Musetti, a tennis player he beats (2-1) in the head-to-head. The Italian won his first match at the 2022 Hamburg tournament (4-6, 7-6, 4-6), while the Spaniard tipped last year’s Roland Garros round of 16 match (6-3, 6-2, 6-2) and the Beijing 2023 round of 16 match in his favour.
“Musetti is a really talented and tough tennis player. I’m looking forward to playing against him and seeing what it’s going to be like,” Alcaraz told a news conference.
“For me it was a very good match. I think I hit really good shots, I moved well and I’m really happy with my performance,” he said of his match against Monfils.
“We both try to smile all the time. We try to enjoy tennis almost every second we play a match. I think thanks to that we can bring a good show to the fans,” admitted the ATP No. 2.
