Carlos Alcaraz already has a rival for his premiere in Miami

The Argentinian has surpassed in the first round the Brazilian Felipe Alves, 164 in the world and who achieved classification from the previous phase, in three sets, by 6-3, 1-6 and 6-4. It will be the third time, all of them on clay, in which the Murcian and the Argentine will face each other. The first two were on the Challenger circuit. In 2020, in the Cordenons quarterfinals, Alcaraz won 7-6, 4-6 and 6-2. Juan Carlos Ferrero’s pupil, who was then ranked 217th, lost the final of the Italian tournament against Bernabé Zapata Miralles. The second time was in another Challenger, in the Oreiras 3 final, in Portugal, where the current number 1 prevailed again 6-4, 6-4, thus scoring the title. And the only time they met on the ATP circuit was at the Umag tournament, in Croatia, in 2022. In the quarterfinals, Alcaraz, who later lost in the final to Jannik Sinner, won 6-0, 6-4.

Bagnis, who until yesterday presented a record this year of no wins and five losses in ATP tournaments, fell in the first round of the Australian Open to Daniel Evans. His best result to date was obtained in a Challenger in Santiago de Chile, where he reached the quarterfinals, where he succumbed to the Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild, 400 in the world.

In theory, Alcaraz shouldn’t have much trouble beating the 33-year-old Argentine and advancing to the third round.where you can meet the British Andy Murray, the Serbian Dusan Lajovic or the American Maxime Cressy, who will be a rival of one of the first two in the first round of a Masters 1,000 that the one from El Palmar already won a year ago and where He has to repeat the title to retain the number 1 in the world.