Carlos Alcaraz has started his bid to regain World No. 1 title at the Barcelona Open with a straight-set victory, 6-4, 6-2, against Finnish qualifier Otto Virtanen. Alcaraz took a while to tune himself in and between sets asked for a medical timeout as he suffered discomfort in his wrist.
Alcaraz was more dominant in the second set, so it appears that the pain in his arm is not severe, and muscle discomfort due to overload of games: he was playing against Sinner only 48 hours ago. In the post-match interview, he explained that he took time to adapt to the court, in different conditions than in Monte-Carlo.
Alcaraz now has one day to rest and recover before facing Tomas Machac in round of 16 on Thursday, no earlier than 19:00 CEST, while Corentin Moutet will face second seed Lorenzo Musetti. It will be the first match between the Spaniard and Czech since 2024, with the head to head tied 1-1. If Alcaraz wins, he could face Andrey Rublev in quarter-finals, Alex de Miñaur in semis and Musetti in the final.