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After winning his first-round match, Carlos Alcaraz expressed happiness at making his debut at the 2023 China Open.
Despite losing a break lead twice in the first set, Alcaraz cruised into the second round of the ATP 500 tournament. He made light work of German qualifier Yannick Hanfmann, beating him 6-4, 6-3 on Friday, September 29, at the National Tennis Center in Beijing.
The win marked the Spaniard’s comeback to the tour after suffering a loss at the hands of Daniil Medvedev in the 2023 US Open semifinals. Carlos Alcaraz, currently the World No. 2, is eyeing his return to the top of the ATP rankings.
Alcaraz took to Instagram to express his delight at winning his maiden match in Beijing and returning to competitive tennis after over three weeks.
"First win in China! very happy with my debut and to be back in action," he captioned the post.
Following his victory over Hanfmann, the 20-year-old lauded his opponent’s game while expressing his joy at winning the match in straight sets. Addressing a press conference, he said:
"I'm really happy to be able to win this match in straight sets, Yannick's playing great. He's a really dangerous player, big shots. He was playing big bombs in this match so I had to be really focussed, trying to not let him dominate the match."
Alcaraz added that he was looking forward to stepping up his game in the upcoming round.
"I tried to be really focussed on every part of my game. I have to improve a little bit so I'm really happy to do it and have another chance to be better in the next round," he added.
Carlos Alcaraz will square off against Italy's Lorenzo Musetti in the round of 16. Musetti prevailed over Karen Khachanov in three sets (6-3, 1-6, 6-2) in his opener.
Carlos Alcaraz determined to regain No. 1 spot from Novak Djokovic before next season begins
In a press conference after his victory over Yannick Hanfmann, Carlos Alcaraz said that he's ready to go for broke and snatch the No. 1 spot from Novak Djokovic before the year is over.
"Novak is going to play in Paris and the Finals. There are a lot of points there that he can win and that he would help him with the No. 1 ranking. Obviously we're going to fight to make sure that doesn't happen and we can take that spot away from him," Alcaraz said.
