Alcaraz back with a bang as he records first clay win of the year at Madrid Masters

Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz made a winning return after injury as he cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Kazakh Alexander Shevchenko to reach the third round of the Madrid Masters at the Caja Magica on Friday afternoon.

Out of action with a right arm injury since Miami, the two-time defending champion wore a protective sleeve on his right arm but was untroubled by anything as he stormed through in 68 minutes.

“I think I did pretty well,” Alcaraz said. “The last month I just practice slices, volleys and backhands, and I think it worked pretty well today.

“It’s something I really worked on is trying to hit the forehand softer, so to say and use my backhand more. It’s not (hurting) at all, but I’m thinking about it. Today I’m not feeling comfortable playing my forehand 100 percent but at this level I’m really happy to do it and I can be competitive with it.”

Alcaraz, ranked No 3, will face Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild next.

In the previous round of the Madrid tournament, Shevchenko, ranked No 59, beat Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech (6-4, 5-7, 6-3).

Madrid Masters 1000, other second-round results (Caja Magica, clay, EUR 7.877.020, most recent results first):

• Miomir Kecmanovic vs. Casper Ruud
• Roberto Bautista Agut vs. Karen Khachanov
• Cameron Norrie vs. Joao Fonseca
• Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. Adrian Mannarino
• Alex De Minaur vs. Rafael Nadal
• Tomas Machac vs. Ben Shelton
• Grigor Dimitrov vs. Jakub Mensik
• Nicolas Jarry vs. Flavio Cobolli
• Alexander Bublik vs. Roberto Carballes Baena
• Daniil Medvedev vs. Matteo Arnaldi
• Pedro Cachin vs. Frances Tiafoe
• Pavel Kotov vs. Jordan Thompson
• Jannik Sinner vs. Lorenzo Sonego
• Thiago Monteiro vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas
• Jiri Lehecka vs. Hamad Medjedovic
• Max Purcell vs. Sebastian Korda
• Borna Coric vs. Alexander Zverev
• Mariano Navone vs. Holger Rune
• Jaume Munar vs. Jan-Lennard Struff
• Ugo Humbert vs. Botic van de Zandschulp
• Tallon Griekspoor vs. Taro Daniel
• Luciano Darderi vs. Taylor Fritz
• Hubert Hurkacz (8) beat Jack Draper: 6-1, 7-5
• Sebastian Baez vs. Luca Van Assche: friday
• Denis Shapovalov beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry (26): 7-6 (3), 6-3
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (27) beat Juncheng Shang (WC): 7-5, 6-3
• Daniel Altmaier beat Arthur Fils (31): 6-2, 6-3
• Andrey Rublev (7) beat Facundo Bagnis (Q): 6-1, 6-4
• Thiago Seyboth Wild beat Lorenzo Musetti (28): 6-4, 6-4
• Francisco Cerundolo (21) beat Fabian Marozsan: 6-2, 7-6 (5)
• Tommy Paul (15) beat Lukas Klein (Q): 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-4