World No 1 beats Brazilian 6-4, 6-4 at the Hard Rock Stadium
Spaniard says teenager ‘reminds me a lot [of me] when I was his age’
As Carlos Alcaraz worked through his service motion midway through his opening match at the Miami Open, a scream pierced the night-time air. One of the 16,000 spectators breathlessly cheering Alcaraz’s demise had attempted to distract the Spaniard just before he struck the ball.
In a spectacular atmosphere unlike many other Masters 1000 second round matches in recent memory, Alcaraz maturely navigated both a passionate, adversarial crowd and a prodigious teenage opponent in Joao Fonseca to reach the third round of the Miami Open with a 6-4, 6-4 win.
This meeting had been greatly anticipated ever since Fonseca began to emerge on the tour. Still just 19 years old, Fonseca has risen rapidly up the rankings, outpacing many legendary players with some of his early achievements, such as an ATP 500 title in Basel last year.
