Carlos Alcaraz admitted he was facing two battles on Court Philippe-Chatrier as he battled into the Roland Garros quarter-finals with a 7-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 win against Ben Shelton.
This was always likely to be a thrilling encounter and it didn’t disappoint, with Alcaraz and Shelton trading blows in front of a sell-out Sunday afternoon crowd in Paris.
Alcaraz’s brilliance saw him come through an epic first set tie break and when he stormed clear to win the second set, this seemed set to be a comfortable afternoon for the defending champion.
Yet he was pegged back from an inspired Shelton, who won a tight third set despite facing moments of brilliance from his 22-year-old rival.
The key to Alcaraz’s win was his success on Shelton’s second service points, with the Spaniard admitting he had to fend off some inner demons before getting over the line.
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“Today I fought against myself, in my mind,” said Alcaraz. “I tried to calm myself as I was mad, angry and talking not really good things. I’m really happy not to let those thoughts play against me. I tried to calm myself and keep going.”
“We both have huge respect for each other. Every time we face each other, we bring a high level and play good tennis. He’s a really powerful player and can make any shot. He’s an unbelievable player.
“We played complete tennis, big shots, coming to the net, big forehands. We stayed there during the whole match. For me, it’s great having him around, it’s a great energy.”
The win ensured Alcaraz became the third-youngest player in the Open Era to reach the Men’s Singles quarter-final in four consecutive years at Roland Garros, after Mats Wilander and Rafael Nadal.
He also claimed his 75th career win over an ATP top 20 opponent since the rankings were first published in 1973, only Jimmy Connors (91) achieved 75 ATP top 20 wins in fewer matches than Alcaraz (109).
Arguably the most impressive record after this was was the statistic that he has recorded 100 ATP-level win on clay in 119 matches and among players who began their career in the Open Era, only Nadal (112) achieved 100 wins in fewer matches on the surface.
These are all records that highlight his brilliance, with former world No 1 Mats Wilander telling Tennis365 that the four-time Grand Slam king Alcaraz sometimes has too many options in his armoury when he is on court.
“The reason I say this is Alcaraz is such a complete player and he has so many options every time he plays a shot,” TNT Sport analyst Wilander told Tennis365 at Roland Garros.
“I remember Roger Federer saying, ‘yeah, of course Lleyton Hewitt will have more success than me to start with, because he is one-dimensional compared to me and doesn’t have all the shots’. Carlos is like that.
“This is why Jannik is ranked No 1 in the world because he doesn’t have so much variety and therefore he is more consistent. It’s more of a straightforward game for Jannik.”
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