Carlos Alcaraz passed a “test of fire” to breeze into the Madrid Open last 16 with a straight sets victory over Thiago Seyboth Wild on Sunday, demonstrating he is over his injury worries before the French Open.
The double defending champion came through 6-3, 6-3 and will face last year’s runner-up Jan-Lennard Struff in the next round after another impressive showing before adoring fans on home soil.
World number three Alcaraz, 20, missed a month prior to Madrid with a forearm issue but returned to crush Alexander Shevchenko in the second round.
Still wearing a protective sleeve on his right arm, he had far too much for Seyboth Wild, who had ousted 28th seed Lorenzo Musetti.
“Maybe today I was a bit nervous about how it would be, Thiago hits the ball so hard, I didn’t know how the forearm would hold up,” said Alcaraz on court.
“Today was the test of fire, no discomfort, feeling spectacular… from here, we’ll be getting better.”
Germany’s Struff defeated Frenchman Ugo Humbert 7-5, 6-4.
Andrey Rublev came back from 5-0 down in a first set tie-break to beat home favourite Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-6 (12/10), 6-4 in a nervy affair.
The world number eight saved five set points to stun his opponent, before a similarly hard-fought second set.
Women’s world number four Elena Rybakina eased to a 6-1, 6-4 win over Egypt’s Mayar Sherif to reach the last 16.
Rybakina will face teenager Sara Bejlek in the next round after the Czech defeated American Ashlyn Krueger 6-3, 6-1.
“I’ve never played against a player like this,” said the 18-year-old. “I will try my best and we’ll see how it will go tomorrow.”
Mirra Andreeva defeated Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 7-5, 6-1 to return to the last 16 for the second year running.
The 16-year-old Russian won 25 points to nine in the second set against the world number seven from the Czech Republic.