Carlos Alcaraz and Pablo Carreño meet this Friday at the Basel tournament in search of a place in the semifinals. The Murcian tennis player reached his first quarterfinals as number one in the world with a solvent victory over Botic Van de Zandschulp (6-4 and 6-2) in the second round and now he will face his compatriot.
The Spaniard reached the penultimate round by beating local tennis player Dominic Stephan Stricker (7-5, 6-7(3) and 6-4) in a more difficult match than expected. His young rival, 20 years old, is 120 in the ATP ranking.
The quarterfinal match between Alcaraz and Carreño will be played on Friday, October 28 on the central court no earlier than 4:30 p.m. in Spain (after the match between Felix Auger-Aliassime and Alexander Bubliky, scheduled at 3:00 p.m.) and will be broadcast by Movistar Sports. The La Vanguardia website will also offer live what happens during the clash between Spaniards.
After crowning himself at the top of the circuit in New York last September, Alcaraz had been eliminated in his first match in Astana. But in Basel he has recovered the winning dynamic. He has already, with this, 54 victories in the season that have brought him five successes, especially the US Open and the Masters 1000 in Madrid and Miami.
It took an hour and twenty-seven minutes to carry out the clash with the Dutchman, 27 years old and 35 in the world, who has the best record in his career in the final in Munich this year and whom he had won at the Australian Open last year, the only time they had coincided on the track.
Now his rival will be Carreño, fifth seeded in the tournament and with whom he has only met once in an official match (on clay) although they have known each other for many years and maintain a friendly relationship.
"I know Pablo very well, he is my best friend on the circuit. We have shared many moments, tournaments and training sessions, I talk a lot with him," Alcaraz explained after his match. In the past, he defeated Carreño in the final of this year's Barcelona Open-Trofeo Conde de Godó in straight sets (6-3 and 6-2).
The duel guarantees the presence of a Spaniard in the semifinals. Carreño got involved with Stricker, 20 years old, 129 in the world and without a flashy result on the circuit.
Carreño, fifteenth in the world ranking and this year's champion of the Canadian Masters 1000, the seventh success in his career, and a finalist in Barcelona, was able to make a break in the fifth game of the final heat. He kept his serve and the advantage until the end until closing the victory.
The penultimate round in the Basel tournament will also feature the presence of another Spaniard: Roberto Bautista. The sixth seed confidently dispatched British legend Andy Murray 6-3, 6-2. The player from Castellón, now ranked 22nd in the ATP ranking, is seeking the third title of the season in the Swiss tournament after those achieved in Kitzbuhel and Doha, and the twelfth in his career.
