The number two in world tennis, the Spanish Carlos Alcaraz, beat Frenchman Gregoire Barrere this Saturday 6-2 and 7-5 in 1 hour and 43 minutes in the second round of the Shanghai Masters. The Spaniard arrived at the center court of the Qizhong sports center - a hard court - amid cheers from the Chinese public, among whom some "Let's go!" in Spanish.
In the early stages of the duel, Alcaraz's physical play was too much for Barrere, who was challenged by the Murcian's powerful serves, who successfully looked for the corners to have opportunities to go up to the net. It took just over a quarter of an hour for Alcaraz to lead 3-0.
During the first set, Alcaraz saved all six breaking balls he had. In the second set, Barrere wanted to make it clear that he had not come to Shanghai to sell his skin cheap, taking the lead up to four times thanks to a tenacity recognized by the audience, which celebrated his increasingly constant climbs to the net.
The improvement of the Frenchman -located in the 73rd position in the world ranking- was notable, with Alcaraz in the slipstream for a good part of the round, although at the decisive moment, with a tie at 5 games, the Murcian pulled out all the stops to win, putting facing victory.
