Alcaraz breezes through French Open

SPANISH tennis star Carlos Alcaraz is through to the last eight of the French Open at Roland Garros.

The 20­year­old from Murcia demolished his Italian opponent Lorenzo Musetti on Sunday afternoon, June 4. An easy 6­3, 6­2, 6­2 victory placed the current world No1 within touching distance of a potential semi­final match­up with Novak Djokovic.

Musetti had only played the Spaniard on clay on one previous occasion. Last July he won 6­4, 6­7(6), 64 on his way to capturing his first­ever ATP title in Hamburg. On Sunday on court, Philippe Chatrier was a different affair though with Alcaraz breezing through.

Alcaraz broke the serve of the 17th seed on seven occasions during the match while firing a total of 42 winning shots. He will now face fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas who overpowered Austria’s 118th­ranked Sebastian Ofn­ er 7­5 6­3 6­0. This will be the young Spanish player’s second consecutive Roland Garros quarter­final while on an undefeated run of 11 Grand Slam matches.

“I think I played such a great level, really high quality of shots. I played a really complete match from the first ball until the last and I’m pretty happy to get through this tough round,” Alcaraz said after the match.

“I try not to think about the number one ranking, the pressure, winning the tournament. I try to put all those thoughts outside my mind and try just to play tennis, to enjoy it and smile all the time,” he added, as reported by a news source.