By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Monday April 8, 2020
Carlos Alcaraz’s eleventh career match at the ATP level was a perfect 10 on many levels. Not only did he reach his first career quarterfinal with a 4-6 6-2 6-4 victory over Feliciano Lopez, he also took part in a rare spectacle of sorts.
The 17-year-old Spaniard, a rising talent that has been blossoming under the tutelage of Juan Carlos Ferrero in 2021, found himself across the net from another Spanish legend and a man 21 years his senior—39-year-old Lopez.
To put it into perspective, Lopez had already been a pro for six years when Alcaraz was born in 2003 (he was ranked 56 in the world on Alcaraz's date of birth).
Not since 2011 has there been a bigger age gap between ATP combatants, and only twice has there been a larger gap since the ATP been keeping such stats in 1990.
It would turn out to be an interesting battle with Lopez, who is creeping closer to the 500-win milestone with 495 career wins (he also holds the all-time record for consecutive Grand Slam main draws played with 75), taking the first set, 6-4.
But Alcaraz carried the play from that point, hitting stinging passing shots and grinding down the crafty veteran with a perpetual, almost pathological, persistence.
Alcaraz, ranked 133 entering the week, pulled away down the stretch, closing out his hard-fought victory to set a quarterfinal clash with Norway’s Casper Ruud.
Lopez and Alcaraz traded breaks early in the final set but it was the Spaniard who would break critically for 3-2 to take a lead he would not relinquish.
“It was a difficult match, Feli is a great player with a great serve and great volley,” Alcaraz said. “I started the match very well with a break in the first few games, but I got a little bit lost toward the end of the first set. Feli took advantage of that, and of course he used his experience in those moments. The key was that I stayed calm after losing the first set. I came out in the second set very focused and knowing what I had to improve.”
Ruud defeated Italy’s Gianluca Mager, 6-3, 6-3 on Thursday, to improve to an impressive 47-25 lifetime on the clay.
In other action, Ilya Ivashka defeated Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, 6-1 6-3, while Jaume Munar put the hurt on second-seeded Fabio Fognini (ranked 18), 6-2 6-1, to snap a run of ten consecutive losses against the Top 20.
The quarterfinals shape up as follows at the Andalucia Open: