Italian Open: British No. 2 Dan Evans was eliminated from the Italian Open after falling to Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena in a marathon match in Rome’s second round.
Evans lost 7-6 (7-5) 5-7 6-4 in the longest best-of-three-set match of the season so far, which lasted three hours and 48 minutes.
Evans earned a bye in round one and was seeded 20th in the competition. Evans has never before triumphed in a main draw match on the clay in Rome.
The 32-year-old was serving for the first set victory after leading 5-2, but Carballes Baena fought to win it at 6-5 just before the rain delay.
When play resumed, Evans was able to break his opponent and force a tie-break that world number 51 Carballes Baena won 7-5.
The second set was close until Evans broke at 5-5 and served the rest of the game to tie the match.
Serving with a 5-4 deficit in the final, Evans’ composure this time deserted him first as a few unforced mistakes and a double fault on match point gave his opponent the victory.
Alcaraz overcomes a slow start to advance
Earlier, the second-ranked player in the world Carlos Alcaraz made his Italian Open debut after overcoming a slow start to defeat Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the second round with a score of 6-4, 6-1.
Prior to Roland Garros, champion of Barcelona and Madrid Alcaraz, who is vying for his fifth trophy of 2023 and fourth on clay, overcame an early serve drop to tie the first set at 2-2.
In a competitive 10th game, the 20-year-old, who will succeed Novak Djokovic as the world’s top player later this month, earned another opportunity to break Ramos-Vinolas with a deft drop shot and took the lead in the match when his Spanish compatriot finally buckled under the pressure and sent a forehand long.
Alcaraz kept up his pace and jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the second set, winning the match on serve to make it 12 straight victories. Jiri Lehecka or Hungarian qualifier Fabian Marozsan will be his next opponent.
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