Photo Source: TTV
Carlos Alcaraz may not have been himself on Thursday, as he battled Jaume Munar at Queen’s Club just 11 days after his epic victory in the Roland-Garros final, but he was close enough.
The Spaniard weathered everything that his compatriot threw at him and emerged with a 6-4, 6-7(7), 7-5 triumph to book his spot in the quarterfinals.
“It was a hell of a fight,” Alcaraz said after completing the three hour and 23-minute tussle. “That shows how difficult it is to defeat Jaume. “He’s a great competitor and a great guy. I’m just happy that I was able to win this match.
Alcaraz could have been done an hour earlier, but he couldn’t convert a pair of match points in the second-set tiebreak, and Munar eventually punched his way through, converting his seventh set point to force a decider.
Alcaraz double-faulted on his first match point, and Munar made a first serve that forced an errant return on the second. Finally Munar flicked a volley winner into the open court to lock up the set before pumping his right fist into the air defiantly.
After two hours and 37 minutes, nothing had been decided. With the match running long, the tournament had to move Reilly Opelka and Arthur Rinderknech, the final round of 16 match scheduled for Thursday, to another court in order to finish it before daylight faded.
“A lot of things happened today in the match, I had match balls serving in the tiebreak, then I had the break at the beginning of the third set. He came back and put himself a break up in the third set so I just tried to fight all the time.
Alcaraz finished with 49 winners against 53 unforced errors, while Munar hit 39 winners and 46 unforced errors.
Alcaraz went from 2-0 up to 4-2 down in the third, but he broke in two of his final three return games, including the final game of the match, to prevail. On his third match point he sent a lob high above Munar, who could only get the frame of his racquet on it as his reply fell into the net, ending the pairs’ fourth career meeting.
Alcaraz is 3-1 against Munar after losing his first meeting against the Mallorca native, and winning the last three.
The World No.2 stretches his career best winning streak to 15 victories. He has won titles at Rome, Roland Garros, with his last loss coming to Holger Rune in the Barcelona final. Alcaraz is now 26-3 lifetime on grass.
“I struggled a little bit mentally and physically in the third set but I am really happy that I didn’t give up. I kept fighting and found a way at the end,” he said.