Alcaraz suffered an injury scare during his opening match at the Japan Open in Tokyo
Carlos Alcaraz defeated Sebastian Baez in Men’s singles in Tokyo.
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Carlos Alcaraz paid tribute to his physio after shrugging off concerns about an ankle injury to reach the quarter-finals of the Japan Open.
The world number one looked to be in real trouble after landing awkwardly on his left ankle during his opening match on Thursday and was unsure how he would pull up.
But there were no real alarms for Alcaraz in a 6-4 6-3 victory over Zizou Bergs, with the top seed setting up a quarter-final against American Brandon Nakashima.
“It was tough,” said Alcaraz. “It was a really important day and a half that I had to recover as good as I can.
“I said before and I’m going to say it again, I have the best physio in the world who I trust 100 per cent and the work he has done for the ankle I think has been great.
“I could play, I would say, normally. I was worried about some movements on the court where I could feel the ankle but in general I think I played a great match.”
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Carlos Alcaraz of Spain serves against Zizou Bergs of Belgium.
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Getty
At the China Open, Jannik Sinner is also through to the last eight but the top seed dropped a set against French qualifier Terence Atmane before coming through 6-4 5-7 6-0.
Sinner wobbled in the second set after twice leading by a break as Atmane, who produced one of the surprise runs of the season to reach the semi-finals in Cincinnati last month, powered his way to a decider.
But the Frenchman began to suffer with cramp, shouting in frustration as he struggled to make his body serve, and Sinner eased through to a clash with Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan.
Jannik Sinner, of Italy returns a shot from Terence Atmane, of France.
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Sinner said of Atmane: “The game style he plays is quite unique and he’s also a lefty, we don’t have so many lefties in the game. Today he was struggling a bit in the third set with some cramps but it was a tricky second-round match.
“I was twice up a break in the second, couldn’t use it, but this is the sport, this happens. Maybe the concentration went a little bit down sometimes, a bit of nerves also felt today, it’s normal, but I’m very happy to be again in the next round.”
Third seed Alex De Minaur was given a real fight by another Frenchman, lucky loser Arthur Rinderknech, but battled to a 6-3 3-6 7-6 (2) victory.
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