Carlos Alcaraz admitted he got off to a fragile start in Saturday’s Indian Wells Masters title defence, with the two-time winner quickly steadying for a 6-4, 6-2 defeat of Quentin Halys.
The Spaniard who has won the last two editions here moved into the third round as he won his 13th straight match at the desert venue.
But the world No. 3 admitted: “it was difficult to control the nerves, this was not an easy match.
“I was nervous before the start but I managed to focus, calm down and try to show a good tennis.
“After that, I did pretty well; I’m happy to get through – the defence has started.”
Alcaraz said that he always feels at home at the Californian venue, adding “the (slow) court conditions are good for me.
He improved to 17-2 here, with his only losses coming against Andy Murray (2021) and his mentor Rafael Nadal a year later.
Alcaraz limited France’s Halys to just seven winners for the match while producing 24 of his own.
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