Have to take lessons from this match: Carlos Alcaraz reflects on early exit in Astana Open
Oct 05, 2022
Astana [Kazakhstan], October 5 : Carlos Alcaraz's Astana Open campaign came to an early end on Tuesday as he suffered a straight sets defeat against David Goffin.
Goffin made the most of his second chance at the Astana Open, upsetting World No. 1 Alcaraz 7-5, 6-3 to earn the biggest win of his season. The 19-year-old Spaniard gave full credit to his Belgian opponent.
"He has played great matches, a lot of matches. He has a lot of experience as well. He played better than me, really, really aggressive. I couldn't handle that pressure that he was pushing on me and of course, it's something that I have to learn and take lessons from this match," ATP.com quoted Alcaraz as saying.
Alcaraz praised the 31-year-old's level after falling short in one hour and 47 minutes.
"It was a tough match as you can see. He was playing really, really well. Coming back to competition is never easy. He played two matches here on this court. It's not easy to get used to, it's really, really slow. It was really tough on me, for my confidence," Alcaraz said.
"I tried to get used to this court so quickly, but I couldn't and he was better than me in this match," he added.
The former World No. 7 Goffin rolled back the years as he outplayed Alcaraz to reach the second round after one hour and 46 minutes.
"I always believe that I have the level to cause some trouble against those guys. Of course, it has not been my best period, I haven't been playing really well in the past few tournaments, but I always believe and practise and you never know," Goffin said.
"When you play against the World No. 1 on a big stage, big crowd, the fire inside gives you so much power to play your best tennis because you don't have any choice. You have to fight and give your best and that was the case today. I always believed I had it and I am happy you can still it there," Goffin added.
