Alcaraz’s misery continues! The Spaniard was no match for the world No. 5 and says goodbye after the first match in Paris

The Masters in Paris was eagerly awaited, especially because of the possible continuation of the Djokovic-Alcaraz duel. However, this will not happen. The Spanish tennis player fell in his first match against Russian Safiullin. How did his match go?

It is impossible not to notice the decline in form of the world number two. Since the Chinese leg of the tour, Spain’s Alcaraz hasn’t performed as well as he did in the first half of the year and he hasn’t returned to better results even after the medical break that followed his return from China.

At the Masters in Paris, he started in the opening round and only in the second round thanks to a free draw. But Russian Roman Safiullin, who also had to qualify in the French capital, soon ended the Spaniard’s journey through the tournament.

The duel with the Russian

The 26-year-old Russian has proved time and again this year that he is a force to be reckoned with. He also played in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon and a few weeks ago in the final in Chengdu. He has scalps of Zverev, Paul and Korda to his credit.

It was Alcaraz who got his opponent’s first serve, but Safiullin returned the favour twice more, taking the first set 6:3. The course of the second set was similar, with the 20-year-old Spaniard taking a 3: 1 lead, but he only played one game in the rest of the set, and the Russian recorded his most valuable win on the circuit after winning 6: 4.

It must be added that the native of Podolsk gave a very good performance. In many respects he surpassed the world number two. He showed a minimum of forehand errors, matched the favourite in the number of winning shots and recorded great efficiency at the net.

The other big favourites will have their debut in Paris on Wednesday. Djokovic takes on Argentina’s Etcheverry, American McDonald awaits Sinner, and Medvedev is up against Bulgarian Dimitrov. But it is hard to expect more surprises than the Alcaraz match.

Finally..

The decline in Alcaraz’s performance is evident. After his historic Wimbledon win, the Spaniard is under a lot of pressure. He is losing the battle for the world number one position so far and is slowly losing the aura of an almost unbeatable player. But that may not be a bad thing ahead of the Champions Tournament.

Source: ATP, X Network