Carlos Alcaraz returned to action on Sunday (August 10) as he faced Damir Dzumhur in his opening round contest at the Cincinnati Open.
This was the Spaniard's first outing on the court since losing the Wimbledon final to Jannik Sinner last month.
The 22-year-old chose against making his first appearance of the North American hard court season at the Canadian Open due to needing physical and mental rest.
Alcaraz displayed some excellent and slightly troublesome signs in his match with Dzumbur as he secured a 6-1 2-6 6-3 victory over the Bosnian.
After landing three breaks and effortlessly securing the opening set in under half and hour, Alcaraz' intensity dropped off and he began making uncharacteristic errors, letting his opponent level the contest and force a deciding set
Despite an early upset appearing on the cards in Cincinnati, the world no. 2 appeared to be regaining his focus as he broke Dzumbur in the fourth game to establish a lead.
Still, Alcaraz failed to make matters easy for himself as his unseeded opponent broke back in the seventh game.
However, Dzumbur did not take advantage of the situation as he went on to lose his serve in the very next game, before Alcaraz served out the final game of the final set to secure safe passage to the Round of 32.
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While the most important factor for Alcaraz would have been securing the victory on Sunday, his coaching team will be concerned that he committed 44 unforced errors and six double faults against Dzumbur.
Also, the second seed failed to save any of the three break points which he faced during the contest.
Alcaraz' reaction to beating Dzumbur
Post match, Alcaraz admitted that there were inconsistencies with his opening round display at the Masters 1000 event and was critical of his performance.
"It was just a rollercoaster," the reigning French Open winner said. "Lots of good feelings, bad feelings, back to the good ones. All I can say is I am happy to get the win at the end and just have another chance to be better."
"I will try to have my confidence back because today it was a little bit tricky. Damir plays really smart tennis, which I have to be focused and ready for that," Alcaraz added.
The Spanish star also touched on the challenges at the current Masters event due to the conditions.
"Here (Cincinnati) it is difficult to play great tennis. The ball flies a lot, goes super fast. You have to be ready to be in a good position for each shot and that is really difficult. There will be a points and games in the match when you won't feel good."
Alcaraz will take on unseeded Serbian Hamad Medjedovic in his next match on Tuesday (August 12).
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