Will this be the week Lorenzo Musetti wins his first ATP Tour title? Two down, three to go in Marrakech.

The #NextGenATP Italian reached the quarter-finals of the Grand Prix Hassan II on Wednesday with a 6-1, 6-7(3), 6-3 victory against Spaniard Carlos Taberner. Musetti will play eighth seed Laslo Djere, who ousted Tunisian wild card Malek Jaziri 6-4, 6-2, for a place in his first semi-final of the season.

The 20-year-old saved six of the seven break points he faced and won 64 per cent of his second-serve points to move on after two hours and 29 minutes. This followed a strong first-round performance against Spanish clay-court standout Albert Ramos-Vinolas on Tuesday.

The 2021 Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals competitor has proven himself on clay before, reaching the fourth round at Roland Garros last year. Once there, he won the first two sets against World No. 1 Novak Djokovic before the Serbian advanced. 

In other action, 2017 Nitto ATP Finals runner-up David Goffin made a good start to his clay-court season with a 6-2, 7-6(3) victory in the first round against qualifier Damir Dzumhur.

“It was not easy. I started really well getting an early break in the first. The first set was really good, 6-2 with some good groundstrokes, with serving well, really precise,” Goffin said. “The second it was a little bit tougher. I started to serve a little bit some double faults, some missed first serves, so he had a chance to come in the rally more often and then he had time to go for more drop shots, to dictate a little bit more in the second.

“But at the end, even if I was a break down, I played well to come back in the set and with a solid tie-break, so I’m happy to have my first win on the clay in the first tournament of the year on clay. It gives me confidence for the next round.”

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The Belgian will next play three-time champion Pablo Andujar, who defeated second seed Daniel Evans in his opener on Tuesday.

“He played a really good match yesterday against Dan Evans, the second seed,” Goffin said. “He likes the conditions here, he likes the tournament, so I will have to play my best tennis for sure to have a chance to beat him. But it will be a good match and hopefully I will play my best tennis.”

Three qualifiers earned first-round wins on Wednesday. Pavel Kotov eliminated ninth seed Tallon Griekspoor 0-6, 6-2, 6-2, Vit Kopriva defeated lucky loser Bernabe Zapata Miralles 6-1, 6-4 and Mirza Basic rallied past Kamil Majchrzak 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Steve Johnson scored a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 win over countryman Denis Kudla in front of a supportive crowd at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship on Tuesday. But at least one person in the Houston stands was not too concerned about the result — Johnson’s young daughter, Emma.

“If I would’ve lost, I would’ve still gone out and had a blast with her,” the American said in his on-court interview. “She doesn’t care whether I win or lose. Life is good;  you’ve got to put it all in perspective.”

Following the interview, Johnson picked up his daughter from the crowd and held her on the court as he signed the camera lens in victory.

The 2017 and 2018 Houston champion will next face fourth seed John Isner in the second round, with Emma sure to be watching on.

For any ATP Tour player, a successful season always takes a physical toll. Stringing together great results also means playing a huge number of matches each week. And that is what Carlos Alcaraz has done in the first quarter of 2022.

The Spaniard has played a total of 20 matches in four tournaments — plus a Davis Cup tie — this season, with a win-loss record of 18-2. In other words, the No. 11 in the ATP Rankings has won 90 per cent of the matches he has played so far this year, helping himself to the Rio de Janeiro and Miami titles along the way.

At 18 years of age, Alcaraz is still racking up a lot of new experiences. One of them is covering a large number of kilometres on court against the best players in the world. In Indian Wells and Miami, he faced four players who are in this week’s Top 10: Rafael Nadal (4), Stefanos Tsitsipas (5), Casper Ruud (7) and Cameron Norrie (10).

“Although this effort may be new to his body, it’s not for his team,” said Juanjo Moreno, Alcaraz’s physiotherapist, in an exclusive interview with ATPTour.com detailing the work done by the professionals behind the success of the man from Murcia. “We know how the body responds to these types of exertions. We have both the experience of Juan Carlos Ferrero and the science from the medical and technical team.”

Moreno provides the master plan for Alcaraz’s physical work, just as Alberto Lledó does in preparation and Juanjo López on the medical side. Sergio Hernández is also part of the physiotherapy work, while Alcaraz receives care in Murcia from Alejandro Sánchez in preparation and Fran Rubio in recovery.

“Imagine how much experience Juan Carlos has of high-intensity, long-duration exertion, coupled with short rest time. Also, science has advanced a lot and the team makes every strategy that has been shown to be effective available for Carlos’ recovery,” adds Moreno, who was in his box during the week at the ATP Masters 1000 in Miami.

Despite it being the first time he has been exposed to this kind of exertion, his team has prepared him for it in such a way that he is able to take it in his stride.

“It’s our working philosophy. It has become part of our lifestyle, to the extent that it’s normal for us,” explains Moreno. “We prepare Carlos so that he can cope with these short, high-intensity matches and that his body is able to recover by means of the physiotherapy and recovery resources available to us.”

Every detail counts and that is the message that has been drilled into the Spaniard by his entourage over the last few years.

“The aim has always been to be safe rather than sorry. In the team, we have established very good physical work for him, from which he also acquires some healthy sporting habits, in which recovery and restorative sleep play an important role,” Moreno continued.

“Fitness work, nutrition, rest, recovery… all of that requires hard work as part of a lifestyle we have tried to instill in him. These are the values the team believes in and it’s our way of working every day.”

This is what Moreno defines as a hard-work culture, something he has integrated into his routine.

“If I had to single out two of Carlos’ strengths, it would be talent and the culture of hard work the team has taught him,” he said. “We have managed to instill in him the fact that, without hard work, the talent will not reach its potential and that at this level it is necessary to take care of every detail.”

And that is what Alcaraz has done. The results speak for themselves.

– This story first appeared on ATPTour.com/es

Nick Kyrgios carried his red-hot form from the American hard courts onto the red clay in Houston with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Mackenzie McDonald on Tuesday. After reaching the quarter-finals in Indian Wells and the fourth round in Miami at the year’s first ATP Masters 1000 events, the wild card Aussie started strong at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship.

Playing his unique brand of attacking and entertaining tennis, Kyrgios took some time to find his footing in what was his first clay appearance since Rome in 2019.

“Clay is obviously not my preferred surface, but I just served really well and started playing more aggressive and just found another gear,” the Aussie said of his comeback win. “I did slip and slide a little bit, but my game actually suits the clay quite well. It’s a great atmosphere out here and the crowd’s pretty involved, so I’m looking forward to continuing to progress through the event.”

Each set was decided by a single, early break. After Kyrgios dropped serve in the fifth game of the match, he navigated two tough service games and saved a pair of break points early in the second before turning the match around. McDonald did not face a break point in the opening set, but dropped serve twice on 11 break points in sets two and three.

The change in match dynamics was also highlighted by the Kyrgios ace count: He recorded 18 aces in the one-hour, 52-minute contest, with 16 of those coming in the last two sets. As he grew comfortable late in the match, Kyrgios turned on the style with a tweener lob, surprising his opponent and drawing an error at net.

Three certainties in life ⬇️

✅ Death
✅ Taxes
✅ Kyrgios hitting a tweener@NickKyrgios #USClay pic.twitter.com/5R6rgFAS6l

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) April 5, 2022

“[Mackenzie] is an amazing player,” Kyrgios added, referencing the American’s win over him in Washington in 2021 — their only previous ATP Head2Head meeting. “He’s a tricky one because he doesn’t make too many errors.”

He will face the seventh seed Tommy Paul in the second round, after the American advanced via a third-set retirement in his opener against Peter Gojowczyk. Paul led, 6-7(4), 7-6(5), 3-2, before the German stopped the contest.

Two all-American matches opened play on the Houston stadium court prior to the Kyrgios win. In the day’s first match, wild card J.J. Wolf scored a 6-4, 6-4 win over eighth seed Jenson Brooksby by breaking serve in the final game of each set. The 23-year-old Wolf was not only making his debut in Houston, but was playing his first tour-level match on clay. With the upset over the World No. 36 — who was playing in just his second tour-level match on clay — Wolf earned his first ATP Tour win against a fellow American.

Two-time Houston champion Steve Johnson also followed that with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 win over Denis Kudla. The only multiple-time winner in the Houston field (2017-18), Johnson improves to 6-1 in tour-level opening rounds on the 2022 season. He dropped serve just once on four break points in the match, though it came at a crucial time as he served to stay in the second set. But after breaking for 3-2 in the decider, the American powered through the finish line with three love holds, setting up a second-round showdown with fourth seed John Isner.

The Houston evening opener nearly saw defending champion Cristian Garin make an early exit, but the fifth seed battled back from a double break down in the third set to edge Jack Sock, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. Trailing 1-4 in the decider, the Chilean won four straight games to get back in the match. 

From 4-all, three love holds left Garin ahead 6-5, and he managed his third break of the set to seal the victory. The World No. 29 was effective on his first serve throughout, winning 79 per cent (38/48) of those points in the contest, but struggled his second delivery with six double faults.

After snapping his five-match losing streak, Garin will next face Australia’s Jordan Thompson, a 6-3, 6-2 winner over Canada’s Steven Diaz earlier on Tuesday.

Frances Tiafoe wrapped up the day’s play with a 6-4, 6-4 win over countryman Marcos Giron. In a frantic finish, three consecutive breaks of serve from 3-3 in the second set gave Tiafoe a chance to serve out the victory.

The sixth-seeded American battled through a three-deuce game to close it out, saving a break point before converting on his third match point. Pablo Cuevas awaits in the second round, after the Uruguayan’s 7-6(7), 6-3 win over Aussie Max Purcell.

All the action from Houston ATP 250 event can be seen on ESPN3 in the U.S.

Felix Auger-Aliassime’s clay-court season is off to a quick start.

The top seed defeated Moroccan wild card Elliot Benchetrit 6-3, 6-3 on Tuesday to reach the second round of the Grand Prix Hassan II on his tournament debut. The Canadian saved all six break points he faced to triumph after one hour and 24 minutes.

Next up for the World No. 9, who also received a wild card, will be Slovakian lefty Alex Molcan or Italian Stefano Travaglia. This is Auger-Aliassime’s first time competing in the ATP 250, but Marrakech is a familiar place.

“I love this country. Of course I think everybody knows now that I have my girlfriend and some family that’s from here,” Auger-Aliassime said ahead of his opening match. “Of course to play also on the African continent, it’s the only tournament we have on the Tour that’s played here on this continent, so that’s special for me.

“It’s awesome to be here, honestly. I’m loving every minute to play in this mythical place.”

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#NextGenATP Italian Lorenzo Musetti also advanced with a 7-6(5), 6-1 victory against fourth seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas. The 20-year-old, who is pursuing his first ATP Tour title this week, broke serve five times to move on after one hour and 41 minutes. Musetti will face another Spaniard, Carlos Taberner, for a spot in the quarter-finals. Taberner led Yannick Hanfmann 6-2, 1-0 when the German retired. 

A #NextGenATP player who was unable to reach the second round was Czech Jiri Lehecka, whom Serbian Laslo Djere eliminated 6-4, 6-4. Portugal’s Joao Sousa ousted 2016 champion Federico Delbonis 6-2, 5-7, 6-3.

Other players who advanced were sixth seed Botic van de Zandschulp and Tunisian wild card Malek Jaziri.

Monday’s play at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship was rained out in Houston, postponing the start of main-draw play.

A full slate of Tuesday matches begins with eighth seed Jenson Brooksby taking on wild card J.J. Wolf.  The stadium court’s evening action will begin with a battle of former champions as fifth seed and 2019 winner Cristian Garin takes on 2015 champ Jack Sock. Garin returns to Houston as defending champion, with the event not held the past two seasons.

Nick Kyrgios will also be in action on the show court against Ameican Mackenzie McDonald.

A pair of all-American matches is also among the highlights on the Tuesday stadium schedule. Two-time champion Steve Johnson (2017-18) will square off against countryman Denis Kudla, while sixth seed Frances Tiafoe faces Marcos Giron in an all-American nightcap.

Doubles action will also begin on Tuesday, with two matches on tap.

No. 11 Carlos Alcaraz, +5 (Career High)
The rising Spanish star continues to climb the ATP Rankings following his title run at the Miami Open presented by Itau, where he became the youngest champion in the event’s history. Entering the South Florida event one year ago, Alcaraz had yet to break into the Top 100. The 18-year-old is now knocking on the door of the Top 10 after his historic Miami run in which he defeated three current members of that elite group. Read Miami Final Report & Watch Highlights.

View Latest ATP Rankings

No. 10 Cameron Norrie, +2 (Career High)
Great Britain’s Norrie makes his Top 10 debut after reaching the last 16 in Miami, where he fell to eventual finalist Casper Ruud. The 26-year-old earned that distinction with the help of his Delray Beach title in February, when he beat Opelka in the final.

No. 51 Francisco Cerundolo, +52 (Career High)
Entering Miami with an 0-2 career ATP Tour record on hard courts, the Argentine scored the result of his young career by reaching the semi-finals at Hard Rock Stadium. He got past four seeded players on the way, upsetting Reilly Opelka (second-set retirement), Gael Monfils, Frances Tiafoe and Jannik Sinner (first-set retirement). The 23-year-old had spent two weeks in the Top 100 previously, when he was ranked No. 76 for two weeks beginning in late February.

No. 38 Miomir Kecmanovic, +10 (Career High)
One of the most consistent players of the 2022 ATP Tour season, Kecmanovic reached his fourth straight quarter-final last week in Miami. He had a tough road to the last eight in Miami, getting past Felix Auger-Aliassime in the second round and dismissing Indian Wells champion Taylor Fritz in the Round of 16 — that result earning the Serb a measure of revenge after a loss to the American in California.

No. 85 Thanasi Kokkinakis, +12 
The Aussie qualified into both Indian Wells and Miami, and made the most of his opportunity in South Florida by reaching the Round of 16, defeating 13th seed Diego Schwartzman on the way. This year’s Adelaide 2 singles champion also reached the Miami doubles semi-finals with countryman Nick Kyrgios, with whom he won the Australian Open doubles crown in January.

Monday’s action at the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech was brought to an early close prior to the start of main-draw play due to heavy rain in Morocco.

Seventh seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and eighth seed Laslo Djere were among those on the day’s schedule, with Henri Laaksonen and Richard Gasquet set to square off on centre court.

The ATP 250 event, which opens the Tour’s clay swing alongside Houston, was set to begin main-draw play after the conclusion of four qualifying matches — none of which were completed before the rain. As a result of the delays, 12 main-draw singles matches are on the schedule for Tuesday, with top seed Felix Auger-Aliassime and second seed Daniel Evans on the centre court slate.

The Marrakech event was last played in 2019, when Benoit Paire took the title. While the Frenchman is not in the 2022 draw, former champions Pablo Andujar (2011-12, ’18) and Federico Delbonis (2016) are competing this week in North Africa.