Carlos Alcaraz overcame a serious-looking ankle injury to progress to the second round of the Japan Open on Thursday, beating Sebastian Baez after appearing to disagree with his own coaching box.
With the first set poised at 2-2, the top seed twisted his ankle on the hard court in Tokyo. Having received treatment and heavy strapping, Alcaraz played on before claiming a break to move 5-4 ahead.
At that point, the Spaniard’s box seemed to encourage him to stop. However, play was then suspended for rain causing another delay and when the players re-emerged under the roof, Alcaraz took the rest of the contest by storm.
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Alcaraz underwent heavy strapping to his left ankle early in the first set, but did come back out and went on to win
The Spaniard maintained his sole break to see out the opening set 6-4, before dominating the second set 6-2 to secure victory.
Alcaraz, who will now likely undergo a scan on his injured left ankle, is scheduled to face Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo or Belgium’s Zizou Bergs in the second round.
“I was scared too, I’m not going to lie,” Alcaraz said after. “When I landed on the ankle, I was worried to be honest because it didn’t feel good at the beginning.
“I’m just happy that I was able to play after that and play such good tennis. Let’s see. I think it’s not going to be easy the next day and a half for me. I will try to recover, to do whatever it takes to be ready for the next round.
“It was unlucky. I would have felt a little bit guilty if I couldn’t continue and play some tennis for the fans so I just tried to have a good mindset and give everything that I have.”
Britain’s Kartal through to China Open second round
Elsewhere, Britain’s Sonay Kartal booked her place in the China Open second round on Thursday.
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The 23-year-old defeated American Alycia Parks in straight sets 6-3 6-2 in Beijing and will next face Australian Daria Kasatkina for a place in the third round.
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