The Spanish Carlos Alcaraz needed only 64 minutes this Friday to advance to the third round of the Miami Masters 1,000, in which he is the defending champion, by overwhelming the Argentine Facundo Bagnis (n.100) 6-0 and 6-2 in its premiere.
After conquering Indian Wells without losing a set and crushing the Russian Daniil Medvedev in just over an hour in the final, Alcaraz, number one in the world, revalidated his victory against Bagnis last summer in Umag (Croatia), when he had also achieved a 6-0.
In the third round, Alcaraz will face the winner of the duel between the Serbian Dusan Lajovic (n.76) and the American Maxime Cressy (n.37).
The Murcian returned to the track where last year he won the first Masters 1,000 of his career, to which he would add the one in Madrid, the tournaments in Rio and Barcelona and the icing on the cake in New York, when he raised the first 'big' to heaven. of his career and became number one in the world.
Against a Bagnis far from the level shown in 2016, when he became number 55 in the world, Alcaraz started the duel like a shot, with ten consecutive points that opened the way to a quick 3-0, with two breaks and a balance of twelve points to two. The tone did not change in the closing stages of the first set, with an Alcaraz who took the next three games and scored a 6-0 that was a declaration of intent.
In the second set, Bagnis shot with pride and after losing serve in the opening game and wasting a breaking ball in the second game, he held serve for the first time and took his first game.
With a smile, he threw his racket into the sky to celebrate, on a very difficult afternoon. She provoked laughter and applause from the public, who supported her at all times during the meeting.
Bagnis even managed to level the match 2-2, before giving up his serve again. Alcaraz would not give options again and would sentence the duel with a definitive 6-2.
The other Spanish representatives who played in the second round of the Miami Masters 1,000 were Alejandro Davidovich and Roberto Bautista. And while the Andalusian was the face, the Castellón was the cross.
Davidovich, number 25 in the world, beat Brandon Nakashima in two sets (7-4 and 7-6 (5)). The Spaniard's first set was very solid while he was somewhat inaccurate in the second, but a good reaction in the tie-break gave him a win to stay alive in Miami.
For his part, Roberto Bautista, number 28 in the ATP ranking, did not have the same luck and fell again to the Finn Emil Ruusuvuori (4-6 and 6-7 (5)), whom he could not beat in Indian Wells just a few years ago. a few days, and chains a worrying streak of five losses in his last six games.
The next Spaniard to take action in Miami will be Roberto Carballés, who will face Russian Daniil Medvedev in the third round, who wants to forget about his defeat in Indian Wells, precisely against Alcaraz.
