Alcaraz survives Van de Zandschulp scare in Rotterdam opener
Carlos Alcaraz rallied from a break down in the first set to claim a hard-fought victory over Botic van de Zandschulp in his opening match at the Rotterdam Open on Tuesday.
Alcaraz was put through his paces against the Dutch wildcard, but emerged a 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 6-1 victor in a contest that lasted just over two-and-a-half hours.
The Spaniard saved a break point early on before seeing out the opening game at the third time of asking, but was broken by his opponent the next time he was on serve.
Alcaraz responded immediately with a break of his own in the following game before edging the tie-break to conclude a one hour and four minute long opening set.
But Van de Zandschulp responded emphatically in the second, earning a crucial break in the sixth game before holding out on serve to take the encounter the distance.
However, the Dutchman seemingly used up all his energy in the second set, with Alcaraz able to assert his dominance before seeing out the contest in an error-strewn display.
The world number three, who is yet to reach a championship match indoors, will face either Andrea Vavassori or two-time winner in 2025, Felix Auger-Aliassime, in the next round.
Alcaraz joins Andrey Rublev and Alex de Minaur in the last 16 after the pair eased to comfortable straight-set victories earlier in the day.
Rublev beat Zhizhen Zhang 6-3 6-4, while De Minaur followed up his quarter-final run at the Australian Open with a convincing 6-2 6-4 win over Belgian David Goffin.
Real steal
— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 4, 2025
Top seed @carlosalcaraz avenges his loss to Van De Zandschulp last year at the US Open with a hard-fought 7-6(3) 3-6 6-1 victory in Rotterdam! @abnamroopen | #abnamroopen pic.twitter.com/0KY7QGu0Gb
Data Debrief: Alcaraz victorious, but far from his best
After the disappointment of his Australian Open quarter-final loss to Novak Djokovic last month, Alcaraz appeared off the pace in his first match since the Melbourne tournament.
Despite winning 68% of his first-serve points to Van de Zandschulp's 65%, the Spaniard was uncharacteristically slack with his serve, producing five double faults in the match.
Alcaraz also registered an astonishing 40 unforced errors in the opening two sets, and will be looking to improve in his next match on Thursday.