Novak Djokovic fought his way into the third round of the Italian Open on Friday after beating Tomas Etcheverry 7-5 (7/6), 6-2 in a surprisingly tight encounter.A six-time winner in Rome, Djokovic was made to work by Argentina’s Etcheverry, prevailing in one hour, 51 minutes to set up a third round clash with Grigor Dimitrov who beat Stan Wawrinka earlier in the day."Still not the desired level, still finding the shots and finding that groove on the court,” Djokovic said in his on-court interview. "It’s always a little bit tricky playing someone for the first time. He’s a clay-court specialist. He started better than I did, I started pretty slow, but I found my groove towards the end of the first. The second set was good, especially the last three or four games. I’m happy with the way I closed out the match.”Djokovic hasn’t been knocked out of an ATP tour event at the first attempt since the Monte Carlo Masters last year, that tournament just his second of last season following his refusal to get vaccinated against Covid-19.But still nursing an injury to his right elbow he had to battle his way past Etcheverry, winning the first set via a tie-break before finally ensuring passage into the next round.Alcaraz ‘feeling good’ ahead of Italian Open debutCarlos Alcaraz said yesterday that he is in good shape ahead of his first ever match in the Italian Open, an all-Spanish clash with Albert Ramos-Vinolas.Flamboyant Alcaraz comes into the clay court tournament with back-to-back titles in Barcelona and Madrid and is set to replace Novak Djokovic as world number one.The 20-year-old only has to play match against Ramos-Vinolas in Rome to reclaim top spot in the rankings ahead of the French Open which starts later this month.The match will be his debut in the Italian capital, a tournament which is a strong indicator of form for Roland Garros."I’m feeling very good, I have trained a couple of times, yesterday with Juanqui (Ferrero), today with Stefanos (Tsitsipas), and I felt pretty good as I’m hitting the ball well,” Alcaraz told reporters. "The conditions are different and it is my first time in Rome. I wasn’t sure what it was going to be like, but the early sensations have been good.”This week’s tournament is the first this season in which Alcaraz and top seed Djokovic are both playing, with the pair in opposite sides of the draw. Djokovic has had a tough start to the European clay-court season, being eliminated in the last 16 at the Monte Carlo Masters, in the quarter-finals at Banja Luka and then pulling out of Madrid with his elbow problem. "Being in the same tournament as Novak is great, having him here and learning from him. It’s always good having the best tennis players in the world in the tournament, it’s great,” said Alcaraz.
May 13, 2023 | 01:32 AM