Carlos Alcaraz is defending his titles from the past two editions of the Indian Wells Open this year, and he started very impressively.
Defending a title is never easy, let alone two. Alcaraz has been the most dominant player at the Indian Wells Open in recent years, proving that the conditions in the Californian desert suit him.
This year, however, he had to get used to new conditions like the rest of the players. The tournament organizers changed the surface, but not many players noticed the change. Some said the conditions were faster, some said they were slower, and others said they were the same.
On paper, the conditions should be faster, which shouldn’t suit Alcaraz as much. At the same time, he’s the Wimbledon and US Open champion, proving that he can do well also on fast surfaces.
He showed that he wasn’t bothered by the surface change in his first match at the first ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the season. His opponent was a tricky one, as he took on Quentin Halys.
Halys might be ranked 59th in the world, but that ranking doesn’t reflect his recent form. The Frenchman beat Andrey Rublev recently to reach the Dubai Championships semi-finals.
Alcaraz, on the other hand, despite being the World No. 3 player, was actually the highest-ranked player remaining in the draw when he stepped onto the court for his first match in Indian Wells this year.
Because of Jannik Sinner’s suspension, he is the second seed in Indian Wells, and after Alexander Zverev shockingly lost in his first match, there is no player who would be ranked higher than Alcaraz remaining in the draw.
The second-round meeting between Alcaraz and Halys in Indian Wells had a very interesting start. A person the young Spaniard was very happy to see took care of the coin toss.
Beekeeper Lance Davis, who was a vital part of last year’s tournament after one of Alcaraz’s matches was invaded by bees, appeared on the court ahead of the 21-year-old Spaniard’s first match this year.
Halys is a great server, so Alcaraz knew that breaking the Frenchman’s serve would be crucial to winning this match. He had a chance to do that already in the opening game, but Halys saved the break point he faced.
A couple of games later, however, Alcaraz broke his opponent’s serve, and he kept that one-break advantage throughout the set despite facing a break point when serving to win the set. The two-time defending champion won the first set 6-4.
Alcaraz was even more impressive in the second set of this match. He started by breaking Halys’ serve twice, winning 16 of the first 20 points. That streak basically secured the win for him.
Both players then controlled their service games, and after less than an hour of play, Alcaraz won the match 6-4, 6-2. He booked his third-round spot against Denis Shapovalov, who will properly test the four-time major winner.
