Carlos Alcaraz stunned the crowd with an outrageous tweener during his victory over Daniel Altmaier at the Monte-Carlo Masters. The young Spaniard booked his place in the quarter-finals with ease as he cruised to a 6-3 6-1 win over his German rival. He is likely to face a tougher test in the last eight, with Arthur Fils his next opponent.
Alcaraz has endured a turbulent year to date, having failed to make it past the semi-finals of any tournament he has played in. He was dumped out in the first round of last month’s Miami Open, suffering a surprise defeat at the hands of David Goffin. However, it did not take him long to show a glimpse of his brilliance against Altmaier in Monte-Carlo.
In the second game of the match, Alcaraz was on the verge of being broken but managed to save the point with a stroke of genius. He initially rushed to the net to return a clever drop shot from Altmaier, who responded by sending the ball towards the baseline.
Alcaraz raced back just in time and pulled off a brilliant tweener, which had Altmaier backpedalling in a desperate effort to return the ball. He managed to get there but lost the point a couple of shots later, leaving Alcaraz to bask in the applause of the crowd.
Tennis TV commentator Nick Lester was left astonished by Alcaraz’s quick thinking, saying: “Point of the week by an absolute mile! Seeing is believing.”
Co-commentator Miles Maclagan added: “Unbelievable! What a shot. How about that control? What about this? Amazing control.”
The match was a closely-fought affair in the early stages of the first set before Alcaraz began to take control. He won the last three games of the opening set to close it out before taking five consecutive games from 1-1 in the second set to wrap up victory.
In his post-match interview, Alcaraz said: “I’m just really happy to be on clay again. It has been a really good season so far.
“Probably struggling a little bit in the last one, but coming on clay, which is a surface I love playing on and the surface I grew up playing on, it’s great to feel it again.
“I’m playing a quarter-final here for the first time. It’s going to be difficult against Arthur Fils, who’s playing great tennis lately. He’s having a great season so far, so it’s going to be an interesting match.
“I think it’s the first time I’m going to play him. I think it’ll be beautiful to play, beautiful to watch. Hopefully, the people are going to enjoy.”
Content Source: www.express.co.uk