Carlos Alcaraz and Roberto Bautista will meet this Thursday in the round of 16 of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell - Conde de Godó Trophy. The man from Castellón passed over the Valencian Bernabé Zapata, whom he easily beat by a double 6-2 in just 61 minutes.
Neither did Carlos Alcaraz have too many problems, who secured his place in the next round after getting rid of the Portuguese Nuno Borges (6-2 and 6-3) in 63 minutes.
The Murcian, who is defending the title in Barcelona, is out in Monte Carlo due to injury, thus solved his first match of the European clay tour and did so with a tennis that went from less to more as his game picked up pace.
Borges had almost no options before Alcaraz. The Portuguese was only ahead in the first game of the first set, which he won on his serve. From there, the tennis player from El Palmar chained five games to sneak in 5-1 and, after giving up two games in a row, break his opponent's game again to close the first set 6-3.
More aggressive and accurate with his forehand than the first set, the former number one in the world shot up at the start of the second set (3-0). And Borges could only scratch him one more game with his serve before giving up the second set 6-1.
The Spanish Carlos Alcaraz, current winner of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell-Conde de Godó Trophy, and the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, are the two main favorites of the 70th edition of the tournament, which will take place between April 17 and 23 at the RCT Barcelona-1899.
In fact, it could be the final of a tournament in which Rafael Nadal, twelve-time champion in Barcelona, and Russian Danniil Medvedev, fifth racket in the ATP rankings, do not participate.
The match between Carlos Alcaraz and Roberto Bautista in the round of 16 of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell - Conde de Godó Trophy will be held this Thursday, April 20, starting at 4:00 p.m. The meeting can be seen on television on RTVE and can also be followed live on the La Vanguardia website.
