Top seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain crushed Dusan Lajovic of Serbia 6-4 6-2 in the quarterfinal of the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires on Friday. The match was over in less than two hours as the 19-year-old Spaniard prevailed easily. Carlos Alcaraz will face his compatriot Bernabe Zapata Miralles in the semifinal on Saturday. But how did the Spaniard get the better of Lajovic?
Lajovic struggles on serve:
Lajovic found it very difficult to hold his serve over the course of the match. He faced 10 break points in the match and could only save five of them. The two players kept exchanging breaks in the first set, As Alcaraz was also broken twice.
However, the Spaniard then broke Lajovic two more times in the second set and held his serve throughout it to race to an easy victory. Lajovic could win only 48% of the points on his first serve in the match, while Alcaraz managed a far more respectable 70%. The Serb was often at the receiving end in his service games, as Alcaraz won 53% of the points in his return games in the match.
Alcaraz’s drop shots and forehand winners give the Serb no chance:
Lajovic played a few drop shots to good effect in the first set, but Alcaraz returned the favor in the second with a few of his trademark ones. Moreover, the Spaniard also hit quite a few winners off his forehand to keep the pressure on the Serb. A few of Alcaraz’s down-the-line forehand winners were a treat to watch. The former world No. 1 will take some stopping if he continues playing like that in his next matches and Zapata Miralles’ task will be cut out on Saturday.
Main photo credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports
