By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Carlos Alcaraz continued his stellar campaign in the ongoing French Open after blasting Felix Auger Aliassime- 6.3, 6.3, 6.1- to enter the quarterfinal stage of the Grand Slam tournament on June 2, 2024, in Paris, France.
Fresh off a lopsided victory over Sebastian Korda, Alcaraz picked up where he left off and tallied his third sweeping win out of his four matches in the clay court.
The only opponent who won a single set against Alcaraz was Jesper De Jong during their second- round clash on May 29, 2024.
Alcaraz’s approach against the hard-hitting Aliassime was a replica of his strategy against De Jong. If he throws more bombs, return with a flat ball and follow it up with a sweeping top-spin forehand in his backhand side.
As what they say, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” In the whole first set against Aliassime, Alcaraz just kept on executing that game plan that propelled him to a dominant 1-0 lead.
Despite a minor mix-up in Aliassime’s offense in the second set, Alcaraz maintained his hitting rhythm and stuck to what was effective for him.
Midway through the second set, Aliassime found a little momentum after winning two long rally baseline exchanges but after Alcaraz scored a crucial break point, the pace of the match immediately went to his favor, steering him to a crucial final offensive push for a 2-0 lead.
It was all Alcaraz in the third set as his power proved to be too much against the gassed Aliassime who showed signs of fatigue in the final four game sets.
The young Spanish ace then put the icing on the cake when he smashed an overhand lob thrown by Aliassime. Despite the height, Alcaraz twirled to his left and positioned well to deliver the killer blow.
With the win, Alcaraz just set up a blockbuster quarterfinal showdown against Stefanos Tsitsipas today, at 5 PM.
