Alcaraz powers past Lajovic into Buenos Aires semis

He may have missed the first five weeks of the 2023 tennis season, but Carlos Alcaraz is quickly making up for lost time in Buenos Aires. The top-seeded Spaniard showed sustained stretches of jaw-dropping brilliance on Friday night as he pushed past talented Serb qualifier Dusan Lajovic 6-4, 6-2 to move into the semi-finals of the Argentina Open.

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“Dusan is playing great, on clay he’s a great player. I had to be really solid from the [back] of the court,” Alcaraz said. “My second match of the year and I’m really happy with my performance.”

There were shaky moments for the 19-year-old in the opening set, as he took his foot off the gas pedal with a 3-0 lead and found himself level at four-all with the 32-year-old after surrendering a pair of breaks.

But Alcaraz quickly found another level, broke serve to take the opening set, 6-4, and proceeded to dominate the second.

Behind a barrage of blistering forehands and deep, penetrating ground strokes, Alcaraz stormed out to a 3-0 lead and added an insurance break in the final game of the match as he sent a forehand winner whizzing down the line for a clean winner on match point.

He finished the 93-minute contest with five breaks of serve from 10 opportunities as he improved to 41-11 lifetime on clay.

Alcaraz, ranked No 2, will play the winner of the match between Spaniard Bernabe Zapata Miralles and Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo, the No 5 seed, next.

The 19-year-old Spaniard beat Serb Laslo Djere (6-2, 4-6, 6-2) ahead of his victory.

In the previous rounds of the Buenos Aires Open, Lajovic, ranked No 90, won against Argentinian Sebastian Baez, the No 6 seed (3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3) and Argentinian qualifier Camilo Ugo Carabelli (6-3, 6-1).

Buenos Aires ATP250, other last 8 results (Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club, clay, USD 626.595, most recent results first):

• Bernabe Zapata Miralles vs. Francisco Cerundolo
• Juan Pablo Varillas (Q) beat Lorenzo Musetti (3): 6-4, 6-4
• Cameron Norrie (2) beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry: 5-7, 6-0, 6-3