After coming up strong in his three-set affair against JJ Wolf in the First Round, Carlos Alcaraz has survived yet another challenge after beating Jesper De Jong in a four-set showdown with a 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, and 6-2 victory to advance to the Third Round. The Spanish star is now slated to play against Sebastian Korda or Soonwoo Kwon.

The World no. 3 blitzed his way past JJ Wolf in the First Round. He has shown significant poise in his game, especially after missing Rome due to an arm injury. This is the first time that he has competed in a tournament since the Madrid Open, and it is expected that he has some rust to shake off in his game so far.

Beating De Jong in a Battle of Attrition

In his first head-to-head showdown with the Dutch qualifier, Alcaraz proved to be a star to beat, winning the first two sets at 6-3 and 6-4. Fans were easily invested in the fact that this was going to be a clean sweep – until he suddenly dropped his first set of the French Open after De Jong responded with a 2-6 rally in the third set to make this a promising showdown. The 20-year-old even trailed by a break in ther fourth before he actually managed to regain his composure and closed out the match with another promising 6-2 win to move on to the third round.

Alcaraz has been really a promising player to watch, and he even nailed a total of 35 winners in the showdown alone. However, there are still a few tough patches that he still needs to work on, as he committed 47 unforced errors in that clash as well. This says a lot about how Alcaraz has managed to come up with a promising groove to get back into the game, and how De Jong failed to capitalize on that lack of decisiveness by Alcaraz in the third set.

According to the 20-year-old star, being placed in that kind of situation humbles him a bit and reminds him to go back into the basics that have helped him win – one game at a time.

"As I have said many times, any player can put you in trouble," Alcaraz said. "You have to be very focused every match and every point and every round. It does not matter if I am at the top of the rankings and playing someone outside the Top 100. You have to think you have to play at your best if you want to get through. The ranking doesn't matter, it matters the level to keep going and I am sure he will break the Top 100."

Chasing Numbers in the ATP Tour

This season has been a tough race for Alcaraz with a lot of short rallies in some of the biggest tournaments in the ATP Tour. He lost in the Australian Open (vs Zverev, Quarterfinals), Miami Open (vs Dimitrov, Quarterfinals), and the Madrid Open (vs Rublev, Quarterfinals) this season so far. While he has seen a massive victory in the Indian Wells Masters to defend his title, this pace by Alcaraz is still a promising climb to look out for.

We have seen Alcaraz pull off some promising finishes in the game in the past few years since he rose to prominence. He has already won his first Major in the 2022 US Open and the 2023 Wimbledon. This road to his third major is coming up as a promising groove that he looks to capitalize on, especially after he fell short in the previous edition of the clay-court slam last year when he lost to his rival Novak Djokovic in the semis.

Of course, there are big expectations that Alcaraz will win big in this tournament, and it cannot be denied that he will be expected to bring his game to the next level and improve on his tough losses in the second round against De Jong. Who knows, this maybe his big break to get back into his winning pace in the ATP Tour – and get back to the world no. 1 spot once more.

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