One of the key skills all grand slam champions need is the ability to grind out wins despite being below their best. Carlos Alcaraz has demonstrated this in the past, but his next opponent in Rome, Jack Draper, might breathe a sigh of relief that the Spaniard has often looked subpar in recent weeks.
It took the 21-year-old two and a half hours to scrape past the hard-hitting Russian Karen Khachanov, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, to set up another blockbuster encounter with Draper in the quarter-finals. It’s the last big tournament before Roland-Garros, where Alcaraz will look to defend his title. An encounter with the tour’s most in-form player feels a fitting test of his form.
