LONDON (Reuters) – Top seed Carlos Alcaraz cantered into the third round at Wimbledon with a 6-4 7-6(2) 6-3 win over 84th-ranked Alexandre Muller on Friday, putting on an entertaining if error-strewn performance for an appreciative Centre Court crowd.
Frenchman Muller, 26, who has spent most of his professional career on the second-tier challenger circuit, took advantage of his 20-year-old opponent producing an uncharacteristic number of unforced errors, 41 in all.
But the smiling young Spaniard’s all-round game, a mixture of power and exquisite touch tennis, was just too strong for the 84th-ranked Muller.
After breaking serve in the seventh game, Alcaraz won the first set on his fourth set point with a big serve.
He raced into a 6-0 lead in the second-set tiebreak before conceding a couple of points then winning with it with a glorious half-volley.
Alcaraz, who made it to the fourth round at Wimbledon last year, produced a searing passing shot to break serve in the ninth game of the final set and wrapped up the match on his own serve with a forehand winner.
(Reporting by Clare Lovell, editing by Ed Osmond)
