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The Carlos Alcaraz encounter with Gael Monfils was one of the main features of Monday’s third-round schedule at the Miami Masters being held at the Hard Rock Stadium.
I am really happy with the level that I am playing, with the performance that I am bringing to the court Carlos Alcaraz
The top seed’s power pitted against the Frenchman’s wily and entertaining game was what was on the cards, and it certainly met all expectations, even though the 37-year-old Monfils suffered an ankle injury in the fifth game before going down 6-2 6-4.
While Monfils carried on bravely, bringing out some wonderful defensive shots from Alcaraz, the world number two proved too strong for the Parisian veteran who played with a smile in between the occasional winces.
Carlos Alcaraz shakes hands with Gael Monfils after an entertaining match
(Photo by Frey/TPN/Getty Images)
“He’s a great athlete,” Alcaraz said of Monfils, “He reads almost every ball so I had to be patient but at the same time, with my forehand, my best shot, try to move him around the court, to get him tired a little bit and give myself the chance to dominate the point, get to the net, hit my best shot.
“That’s what I was trying to do in the match, and it worked pretty well,” he added.
The 20-year-old expects a much tougher test from Lorenzo Musetti in the next round, after the Italian won an enthralling battle with American Ben Shelton in front of a partisan crowd on the Butch Buchholz court, 6-4 7-6(5).
“I know that Lorenzo is a really talented player so that’s a really tough one,” Alcaraz predicted.
“But I am really happy with the level that I am playing, with the performance that I am bringing to the court.”
Earlier, fourth seed German Alexander Zverev came through a tricky test against American Christopher Eubanks, winning 7-6(4) 6-3.
“He came out swinging and didn’t give me chances to be aggressive. I tried to mix it up from the baseline,” Zverev said.
“I was surprised how well he was playing from the baseline, not giving me many unforced errors. He makes a lot but usually misses a lot but today he wasn’t missing, especially through some stages of the first set,” he added.
Zverev will face 15th seed Karen Khachanov who was pushed all the way by Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo 6-1 5-7 7-6(5) with the Russian closing out the victory on his fifth match-point.
Australian Alex De Minaur moved on with a 7-6(3) 6-4 win over 24th seed Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany.
De Minaur will face Fabian Marozsan in the next round after the Hungarian inflicted a 7-5 6-3 defeat over his towering over another Aussie, Alexei Popyrin, to maintain his impressive run.
Hubert Hurkacz defeated American Sebastian Korda 7-6(5) 6-7(5) 6-3 and will face Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov who whitewashed Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann 6-0 6-0.
The defeats for Korda, Shelton and Eubanks leave the USA with no representative in the fourth round of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament.
Alex de Minaur keeps the Aussie challenge alive
(Photo by Brennan Asplen/Getty Images)
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