Alcaraz Makes a Grand Debut in Rome

Carlos Alcaraz has made a remarkable entrance at the Foro Italico, achieving a decisive victory over Dusan Lajovic (6-3, 6-3). The Serbian, who had lost all four previous encounters against the Spaniard without winning a set, received another lesson from Alcaraz, who is back in action after an injury that sidelined him from Madrid.

Alcaraz played with a protective bandage on his right thigh, which he has been wearing during training in the Italian capital, along with a nasal strip, as he has done in other tournaments this year. However, this did not prevent him from securing one of the most comfortable wins of the year against a player who, despite having more match practice after passing the qualifying rounds and winning in the first round against Yoshihito Nishioka, was overwhelmed by the Spaniard.

In front of a packed central court, where Jannik Sinner fans in orange shirts awaited their idol's debut on Saturday, Alcaraz once again demonstrated that when he is in form, no one can challenge him on clay.

Especially when his opponent is a player like Lajovic, with a one-handed backhand, one of the skills Alcaraz exploits best in his opponents. Throughout his ATP career, Alcaraz has played 37 matches against players with a one-handed backhand and has won 34 of them. Only Lorenzo Musetti, in the 2022 Hamburg final, and Grigor Dimitrov, in the 2023 Shanghai Masters and 2024 Miami, have managed to defeat him.

This 2025, he has faced five different opponents using this stroke and has won all five matches, dropping only one set against Musetti in the Monte Carlo final.

The record is nearly flawless, and Lajovic, far from his best at 34 years old and ranked 131st, would have needed almost a miracle to compete with Alcaraz. With more than twenty unforced errors and against an Alcaraz who produced over twenty winners and had break opportunities in nearly every game, the miracle was impossible.

He only had to overcome a brief irregular moment in the first set, when he went from leading 5-1 to 5-3. But when Lajovic had the chance to extend the set to 5-4 and force Alcaraz into one last effort, he made several errors, squandered a backhand into the net, and conceded the twelfth consecutive set to the Spaniard.

In the second set, there were no concessions. Alcaraz gave no chances with his serve and sealed the victory in one hour and 23 minutes, a perfect scenario for his second victory in Rome following his 2023 win against Albert Ramos.

He now awaits his third-round opponent, who will emerge from the match between Alex Michelsen and Laslo Djere.