Rusty Alcaraz sees off qualifier in Wimbledon opener / Photo: Glyn KIRK - AFP
Rusty Alcaraz sees off qualifier in Wimbledon opener
Carlos Alcaraz made a stumbling start to his Wimbledon title defence on Monday before coming through in straight sets against Estonian qualifier Mark Lajal.
The Spanish third seed was taken to a tie-break in the opening set and trailed 2-0 against his unheralded opponent in the second but held his nerve to win 7-6 (7/3), 7-5, 6-2.
Alcaraz, still only 21, is chasing his fourth Grand Slam title and hopes to become just the sixth man after Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic to win the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back.
He came into the match short of practice on grass after making an early exit from Queen's, where he was also the defending champion.
The dreadlocked Lajal, also 21, had never won a Grand Slam qualifying match let alone a main draw tie before last week and has just two wins on the ATP Tour in his career.
But the 269th-ranked player put up an impressive fight against his illustrious opponent on Centre Court, forcing the first break of the match, which was cancelled out straight away by Alcaraz.
The Spaniard won the first set tie-break but Lajal broke again to take a 2-0 lead in the second set. Again a ruffled Alcaraz snuffed out his opponent's advantage.
The defending champion, who won his first French Open title last month, forced a crucial break in the 11th game and served out to love to take a two-set lead.
Alcaraz, who struck 44 winners in total, stepped up a gear in the third set, winning 92 percent of points on his first serve.
He raced into a 5-1 lead and although he was briefly held up he served out to win in two hours and 22 minutes.
The third seed will face Australia's Aleksandar Vukic or Austria's Sebastian Ofner in the second round.
E.Brwon--EWJ
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