Carlito injured?

The Spaniard hurt his ankle a bit, but it should be fine.

Nothing serious normally for the Spaniard, who was bouncing around just fine at the end of the match, but it still had to be pointed out. Apart from that little scare, you can’t say he made a bad impression despite losing a set; it was mostly a monumental Rinderknech in the first set, and the Frenchman had already caused problems for Alcaraz before, so for me there’s absolutely nothing negative about this match, quite the opposite. It’s the kind of match the Spaniard might previously have lost by getting frustrated or trying to hit even harder, but he’s matured and got through it with experience. You can also feel he’s confident, which is normal given he’s 14–0 this season. For his round of 16, he’s up against a player with a completely different profile, which is… good?

Yeah, really good actually. What’s interesting with Rinderknech is that his serve is steel, he goes for it on the return and, above all, he follows it to the net. He really pushes to stop Alcaraz from dictating the rallies, and that bothers the Spaniard. Forty net approaches for the Frenchman; Ruud is not going to offer that at all, and I’m afraid his tennis will be way too textbook to really trouble him. I did like his match against Vacherot though: it took him a set to find his game, but once he got into the match I loved what he did on both sides, that was very good Ruud. Still a bit hard to believe in his chances given the H2H, 5–1 Alcaraz, and Ruud’s only win was at the Masters indoors when he unexpectedly made the semis. Here we’ve got the best version of Alcaraz in conditions that are super nice for him; it really feels like it’s going to be a commanding win against a player he likes beating.