Looking to bounce back from his loss to Jannik Sinner in the Monte-Carlo final and regain the No. 1 ranking, Carlos Alcaraz kicked off his Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell campaign with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Otto Virtanen on Tuesday afternoon. Alcaraz took an injury timeout at the end of the first set for an apparent arm issue, but he showed little sign of it moving forward and prevailed after one hour and 25 minutes.
The 22-year-old Spaniard will meet Tomas Machac in round two.
“It feels great to be back and to get another win in front of my people in Barcelona,” Alcaraz commented. “It means everything. This morning was my first practice here to adapt to the conditions — different conditions [from] Monte-Carlo, but overall I am really happy with the way that I played.”
The top seed will — at least temporarily — surpass Sinner for No. 1 on Monday if he takes the title in Barcelona.
At the BMW Open, Joao Fonseca scored a 7-6(1), 6-3 victory over Alejandro Tabilo on Tuesday. Fonseca broke serve three times while advancing in one hour and 33 minutes.
Next up for the 19-year-old Brazilian is Arthur Rinderknech. They just faced each other in the Monte-Carlo second round, with Fonseca getting the job done 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.
Other winners in Munich on Tuesday were Alexander Zverev, Flavio Cobolli, Luciano Darderi, Denis Shapovalov, Daniel Altmaier, Zizou Bergs, and Vit Kopriva. Third seed Alexander Bublik fell to qualifier Alex Molcan 6-4, 6-2.