After coming through a three-hour marathon in his opening round at Queen’s, Carlos Alcaraz joked he needed the prolonged practice against grass.
In contrast on Thursday he coasted into the quarter-finals of the Cinch Championships in less than half that time to beat Jiri Lehecka 6-2, 6-3.
The Spaniard makes no secret of the fact that he is a novice on grass, much like his countryman and idol Rafael Nadal was in the infancy of his career.
But like Nadal, the No1 seed gave indications he could yet be a champion on the surface such was the ease with which he beat a player ranked inside the world’s top 40 with a game well-suited the grass.
After round one, Alcaraz admitted he had no expectations on the grass, following the Lehecka win and ahead of his first ever quarter-final on grass he said that had shifted.
“Probably I’m going to change it,” he said. “After this match, this level the expectations changed. I think I’m ready to do a good result on grass. This a really beautiful place to play. I’m enjoying every single second. I’ll go in with a lot of confidence and I’ll go for it.”
Lehecka had chances in the match – three break points in all – but could not convert any of them and struggled to win points on his first serve with his Spanish opponent’s defence impeccable.
In contrast, Alcaraz converted three of nine break points across the two sets for the most comfortable of victories.
He said: “I’m very happy with the level I played today. I think I had a really solid match. I feel really comfortable here on grass. I’m really happy getting experience on grass and getting hours and knowing I have this level.”
