Alcaraz breezes into quarter-finals, plays Paul next

The Spaniard beat Roman Safiullin 6-4, 6-2 to book his place in the last eight

Carlos Alcaraz, Jeux olympiques Paris 2024

DPPI / Panoramic

July 31, 2024

The temperature may have been hot on the courts of Roland-Garros but for Carlos Alcaraz, his path into the quarter-finals of the Olympics was a relative breeze as he dismissed the challenge of Roman Safiullin 6-4, 6-2 on Wednesday to reach the quarter-finals.

The Roland-Garros and Wimbledon champion broke in the first game of each set and then broke again in the seventh game of the second as he sealed a convincing, impressive victory.

The Spaniard will now play Tommy Paul in the quarter-finals after the American ended French hopes with a 7-6 (6), 6-3 win over Corentin Moutet.

Alcaraz strapped up but unhindered

Alcaraz sported some strapping on his right leg, beneath his yellow shorts, but it didn’t hamper his movement as he started strongly and maintained his advantage throughout.

The world No 3 was too quick, too strong, and simply too good for Safiullin, a Russian playing under a neutral flag due to the ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes over their country’s invasion and continued war against Ukraine.

Paul withstood everything Moutet could throw it at him, including an underarm serve on the first point of the tiebreak, and stayed calm in the face of huge crowd support for France’s remaining player in the singles.

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