(Basel) Favorite Carlos Alcaraz came from behind to defeat Britain’s Jack Draper in straight sets 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 on Monday in the first round of the Basel tournament.
Alcaraz confirmed their victory on their third match point. He landed a forehand winner following a powerful serve.
Basel’s first tournament since before the COVID-19 pandemic was expected to see Roger Federer return home, but the Swiss ended his career last month with a lingering knee injury.
Alcaraz, 19, and Draper, 20, had a combined age smaller than Federer’s 41 and they were playing their first career game in Basel, where the Swiss legend won 10 titles, between 2006 and 2019.
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Rated 45e in the world, Draper broke Alcaraz’s serve twice and he committed just three unforced errors in the first set.
Alcaraz took their game up a notch in the second set and caused two breaks of service without even allowing the Briton a similar chance.
The victory for the Spaniard was his first on the ATP Tour since winning the United States Open last month. He lost in straight sets to David Goffin in a first-round duel in Kazakhstan three weeks ago.
Goffin went down Monday in Basel when he was beaten by American Brandon Nakashima in three sets 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4. The Belgian and former top-10 player earned a bye to the tournament, where he was defeated in the final by Federer, in 2014.
In other matches on Monday, Kazakh Alexander Bublik showed Russian Aslan Karatsev the way out in straight sets 6-3, 7-6 (2) while Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech upset Croatian Marin Cilic 6- 4, 3-6, 7-6 (5).
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