Alcaraz exceeds another physical test in Rome | ATP Tour

Roma

Alcaraz exceeds a great physical test against Khachanov in Rome

Spanish will measure Draper in the quarterfinals

May 13, 2025

In the eternal city, a player who seeks posterity.

Carlos Alcaraz climbed on Tuesday until the quarterfinals of the Internalzionali BNL d’Halia, expanding his connection with one of the great temples of the beaten earth in the ATP Tour. The Spanish, absolute man to open on the surface at the moment, defeated Karen Khachanov (6-3, 3-6, 7-5) to find the path that leads to the decisive rounds of the tournament, those that will definitively test their physical state.

After missing the Mutua Madrid Open for a muscular injury in the right leg, the Murcian has resumed his stellar spotted earth, with the Montecarlo Cup and the final of Barcelona as the most recent inertia. A great perseverance has sustained the first parties of Spanish, hardened after the pause of recent weeks and capable transmitting capacity for suffering in one of the most special moments of his calendar.

“It is fantastic to achieve victory against a player as strong as Khachanov,” Alcaraz said. “I have suffered physically. I have no pain anywhere in the body, but I was tired. The game has been very hard. I had to run a lot, so I am satisfied with the way I fought every ball.”

“Since I lost the advantage in the second set, I could lose a bit of concentration. He has started playing quite well, but I’m glad to have forgotten and return the best I could in the third. I have limited myself to fighting, I am satisfied with it.”

No. 3 of the PIF ATP Rankings had to cross a raw game, where to achieve the optimal rhythm was a permanent challenge. The Murcia lost the first turn of the party, forcing himself to row against a countercurrent in an initial sleeve marked by his perseverance. Afterwards, Carlos needed to accept an intermittent domain duel, leaving an advantage breaks in the second and third set before catching victory.

With the Centrale Campo as a witness, Alcaraz left another brand that underlines its enormous versatility in the great scenarios of the ATP Tour. At 22, the Spanish has managed to reach at least the quarterfinals in all the 1000 Masters tournaments of the calendar. Of the 10 active players who got the milestone, none signed it at an age as early as the Murcian.

Alcaraz competes in Rome with the possibility of conditioning his future path in Roland Garros. In case of reaching the semifinals in the Italic forum, the Spanish would depart as one of the two main series heads on the clay of Paris, where he will first attend his career as a current champion.

With three Roman victories already in the legs, Alcaraz enters a territory of maximum demand in the Italic forum. The Spanish will play the quarterfinals against Jack Draper, in a duel that will face the first two classified in the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin. The British, a recent runner-up in Madrid, traced an intense match to the Frenchman Corentin Moutet (1-6, 6-4, 6-3).

The Spanish dominates 3-2 the Lexus ATP Head2head in an unprecedented rivalry about clay. Draper won the most recent duel between the two in the semifinals of Indian Wells last March, on the way to his first ATP Masters 1000 crown.

Did you know what …?
Carlos Alcaraz aspires to become the seventh Spanish player who conquers the individual title of the Bnl d’Italia from the creation of the ATP Masters 1000 category in the 1990 and Rafael Nadal (2005-07, 2009-10, 2012-13, 2018-19, 2021).