Some slip and slide as grass gets greener for No.1 Alcaraz

Far from perfect but Spaniard overcomes Chile's impressive Jarry in four sets to reach fourth round

- 

MUMBAI: It's not often that Carlos Alcaraz has appeared flustered on court this season. Visibly unhappy about a line call and the subsequent decision to replay the point on a break opportunity in the fifth game of his second set against Nicolas Jarry, the Spaniard lost the next point. His body language revealed a mind still stuck on the previous episode.

Adding to the unusualness, that little passage of play came after Alcaraz had averted the risk of going a double break down-how often has that too happened this year? - in the set.

However, staying true to his champion-like mentality and world No.1 tag, the 20-year-old waded through the testing phase to come out a 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3, 7-5 winner against the world No.28 Chilean in the Wimbledon third round on Saturday.

From a man who has lost all of four matches in the first six months this year, it was a scratchy show on centre court. One that showed why he hasn't gone beyond the fourth round on the lawns of the All England Club and why his top billing this edition doesn't quite accurately reflect going into the second week with a certain Novak Djokovic looming.

To be fair, Jarry was no routine test, especially with the kind of season he's had. Only seven players have taken Alcaraz the distance in a match this season. Jarry is one of them, in February's ATP 500 Rio de Janeiro semi-final in a 7-6(2), 5-7, 0-6 defeat.