Carlos Alcaraz is now looking over his shoulder at advancing rival Jannik Sinner after crashing out of the ATP semi-final in Buenos Aires to Nicolas Jarry 7-6 (2), 6-3.
The Spaniard’s world No. 2 status could be in considerable danger as the Italian advances; his latest effort was a win into this weekend’s Rotterdam finals.
Alcaraz could find few positives after going down on clay to Chile’s Jarry, ranked 21st.
“It was a difficult defeat for me; it hurts a lot,” the former No. 1 said. “There are many things to improve.
“I’ve played good tennis but far from my real level Physically I feel good – but this type of defeat hurts.”
He added: “There is great expectation at tournaments for me; people think that I have to win every match. But in the end this is tennis,
“But I always try to think about the positive and in the next training sessions practice it so that it doesn’t happen again.”
