World No 2 Carlos Alcaraz ended his near four-month injury layoff with a 6-2 4-6 6-2 win over Laslo Djere at the Argentina Open; British No 1 Cameron Norrie also claimed a three-set victory to reach quarter-finals
Thursday 16 February 2023 11:06, UK
Top seed and former world No 1 Carlos Alcaraz was successful in his long-awaited comeback at the Argentina Open on Wednesday.
The US Open champion, who was forced to miss the Australian Open through injury, battled past Serbian Laslo Djere 6-2 4-6 6-2.
The 19-year-old Spaniard has not played since November and recently lost top spot in the rankings to veteran Novak Djokovic.
Playing under the lights in Buenos Aires, Alcaraz dominated with his heavy baseline blows and drop shots to seal his first victory since suffering an abdominal injury at the Paris Masters in November.
"It's a great feeling to win again," Alcaraz said. "It's been a long time for me, no competition and no matches, just recovery. And finally I got my first win of 2023."
Alcaraz will next face another Serbian in Dusan Lajovic, who suffered a straight-sets loss in the pair's only previous meeting in the second round of last year's Australian Open.
Real estate investor Matija Pecotic will be returning to his day job after losing 6-3 6-3 to Marcos Giron in the quarter-finals at the Delray Beach Open.
The Croatian, who made his ATP Tour main draw debut at this ATP 250 event, moved to the round of 16 after shocking world No 8 Jack Sock in three sets on Tuesday.
British No 1 Cameron Norrie dug deep to claim victory over home wildcard Facundo Diaz Acosta in his first outing at the Argentina Open on Wednesday.
The world No 12 needed to fight back from a set down to see off the local favourite 4-6 7-5 7-6 (8-6) in Buenos Aires.
Norrie, the second seed, will now face another Argentine in Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the quarter-finals.
Elsewhere in Rotterdam, world No 5 Andrey Rublev lost 6-4 6-4 to Australian Alex De Minaur at the ABN AMRO Open.
A single break of serve in each set proved enough for De Minaur, who closed out the win in an hour and 21 minutes to claim a third victory over the Russian in four meetings.
World No 1 Iga Swiatek made an impressive return to action with an emphatic victory over Danielle Collins at the Qatar Open.
Swiatek, playing her first match since the Australian Open, proved too strong for the American in Doha as she swept to a 6-0 6-1 win in just 53 minutes in their second-round match.
The Pole lost just four points in the first set, which she wrapped up in 21 minutes. After losing nine successive games, American Collins finally registered on the scoreboard at 3-1 in the second set, but Swiatek's success was a formality.
She will now play world No 9 Belinda Bencic in the quarter-finals after the Swiss seventh seed came from behind to beat Victoria Azarenka 1-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-4.
Second seed Jessica Pegula, the world No 4, beat Jelena Ostapenko 6-2 2-6 7-5 and fourth seed Coco Gauff battled past Petra Kvitova 6-3 7-6 (8-6).
Third seed Caroline Garcia survived a scare before pulling through to beat world No 123 Karolina Muchova 6-7 (3-7) 7-5 6-4 in a match that lasted three hours.
