Carlos Alcaraz passed a 'trial by fire' to enter the last 16 at the Madrid Open on Sunday with a straight-set victory over Thiago Seyboth Wild, showing he has overcome his injury concerns ahead of the French Open. The two-time defending champions came through 6-3, 6-3 and will face last year's runner-up Jan-Lennard Struff in the next round after another impressive performance before worshiping the fans on home soil. World number three Alcaraz, 20, missed a month for Madrid with a forearm problem but returned to crush Alexander Shevchenko in the second round. Still wearing a protective sleeve on his right arm, he had far too much for Seyboth Wild, who had ousted 28th seed Lorenzo Musetti.
“Maybe today I was a little nervous about how it would be. Thiago hits the ball so hard, I didn't know how the forearm would hold,” Alcaraz said on court.
“Today was the fire test, no discomfort, a spectacular feeling… we will get better from here.”
Indian Wells champion Alcaraz broke for a 4-3 lead in the first set when Seyboth Wild blinked first and sent a forehand into the net.
The second seed closed the set with another break when his Brazilian opponent committed a double fault.
Alcaraz stepped up a gear in the second set, winning 10 of the first 11 points and breaking in the second and fourth games as he cruised to a 5-0 lead.
Seyboth Wild fought to a stop and a break to salvage some pride, but Alcaraz prevailed on serve when the Brazilian went long.
“I felt very comfortable on the field, moving and hitting the ball. I always say that finishing the match is not easy, it's nerves,” Alcaraz added.
German Struff defeated Frenchman Ugo Humbert 7-5, 6-4.
Andrey Rublev came back from 5-0 down in a first-set tiebreak to beat home favorite Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-6 (12/10), 6-4 in a nail-biting affair.
The world number eight saved five set points to stun his opponent before an equally hard-fought second set followed.
Rublev broke for a 5-4 lead with a shot that the Spaniard preferred to leave as he thought it was taking a long time, but Hawk-Eye showed it was in.
The Russian capped his win with a forehand winner, his second victory of the week after four consecutive defeats earlier.
Women's world number four Elena Rybakina recorded a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Egypt's Mayar Sherif to reach the last sixteen.
The Kazakh, who has three titles to his name this season after winning in Stuttgart last week, broke twice in the first set to take a 5-0 lead on the Spanish clay.
Although Sherif fought harder in the second set and survived four match points for a 5-4 deficit, Rybakina achieved victory on serve in the Caja Magica.
“Despite the score, it was a very tough match,” said Rybakina, who also leads the tour with 28 wins.
“It was a lot of deuces and we both fought a lot. I'm very happy with today's performance.”
Rybakina will face teenager Sara Bejlek in the next round after the Czech defeated American Ashlyn Krueger 6-3, 6-1.
“I've never played against a player like that,” said the 18-year-old. “I'll do my best and we'll see how it goes tomorrow.”
Mirra Andreeva defeated Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 7-5, 6-1 to return to the last 16 for the second year in a row.
The 16-year-old Russian won 25 points to nine in the second set against the number seven in the world from the Czech Republic.
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