Since 2000, only three players under 21 have had 60 tour win a calendar year, Lleyton Hewitt (2001), Rafael Nadal (2005), and Novak Djokovic (2007). Now Carlos Alcaraz has joined the elite company after cruising past Lorenzo Musetti to earn a place in the quarterfinals at the China Open.
Carlos Alcaraz beat Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti in 6-2, 6-2 in set that lasted 81 minutes. The victory took Alcaraz to 16-1 at the ATP 500 events. The 20-year-old will look to earn his 17th win at the ATP level when he takes Casper Rudd in the last eight.
Carlos Alcaraz beats Lorenzo Musetti to reach China Open quarterfinals
Carlos Alcaraz reached the quarterfinals at the China Open in Beijing, beating Lorenzo Musetti in double 6-2 sets. The top-seeded Spaniard hit 18 winners and broke the Italian’s serve four times in the 81-minute rout as he became the first player to win 60 tour matches this season.
After the victory, Alcaraz talked in a press conference about the match explained, “I feel great, he is a tough opponent and I offered a great performance. I’m happy that from start to finish I didn’t have any highs and low, I maintained a great level with continuity and this is what I look for in every tournament.”
On the problem of the balls, about which some tennis players have complained, Carlos Alcaraz stated, “I honestly felt it from the first training session I did here in Beijing, it’s something difficult but we tennis players have to get used to it.”
“After all, we change the ball and the situation in every tournament and you have to get used to it. Every player asks these questions but in the end it’s our job, every tournament we will face something different.”, Alcaraz concluded.
Carlos Alcaraz obtained the pass to the quarterfinals where he will face the seventh-seeded Casper Ruud, who was taken the distance by Tomas Martin Etcheverry 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7) in a three-hour thriller. Both tennis stars will have a rematch of the 2022 US Open final.
Carlos Alcaraz becomes the first player to win 60 tour level matches in 2023
Carlos Alcaraz became the first player to earn 60 tour-level wins in 2023 as he beat Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti 6-2 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals at the China Open in Beijing. It was enough to book Alcaraz his 13th quarter-final appearance of the season, matching a record that was set by tennis legend Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.
It was another snapshot of the impressive consistency Carlos Alcaraz has shown in 2023, as he has rarely missed out in the early rounds of tournaments. Which earned him 60 wins in a season for the first time in his impressive career, with the last players to achieve that feat being Stefanos Tsitsipas and Felix Auger-Aliassime last year.
“Today was a perfect match for me. You can improve and be better every day but I was proud of my tennis playing this level. I played high-quality, great shots and a great return game. It was a great match and I enjoyed playing today. A goal for me today was to start strong. Try to push him to the limit at the start. Trying to dominate the match, not make him feel comfortable. Move him and not let him hit his shots”, Carlos Alcaraz said after the victory.
Alcaraz will get a chance to move towards 70 match wins for the season in the next few weeks, as he could still have three matches to play in Beijing and will then play in the Shanghai and Paris Masters tournaments.
Alcaraz is in a race with Djokovic to finish the year as the world No 1 and he has a chance to gain ground on his great rival over the next couple of weeks as the Serbian is not competing in Beijing or Shanghai. Hopefully, let’s see how the year ends with both optimistic about ending the year as No 1.
