Carlos Alcaraz has succesfully returned to the competition, advancing to the semifinal in ATP 250 tournament in Buenos Aires. The world's number two, who was forced to miss the season opening, including Australian Open, due to the injury, started his season in Argentina's clay tournament.
The first match after coming back was not easy for Alcaraz, who needed three sets to eliminate Laslo Djere. The Spaniard has improved his game in another one tough, defeating Dusan Lajovic easily, 6-4 6-2. The reigning US Open champion will face his fellowcountry Bernabe Zapata Miralles in the semis. 26 years-old Spaniard earned his place in semifinals after defeating two seeded local favorites - tournament's #4 Diego Schwartzman and #5 Francisco Cerundolo.
Cameron Norrie advanced to the SFs after defeating another two home players. Facundo Diaz Acosta, ranked #191 in ATP list, made especially a lot of trouble for the best ranked Brit in the round of 16. Diaz Acosta won the opening set and was a break up in second one, leading 3-1 and 5-3. Norrie managed to score 4 games in a row, moving into decider. The third set was decided in a tie-break, won by Norrie 8-6. Whole the match lasted three hours. Tomas Martin Etcheverry was the next difficult opponent for Norrie in the quarterfinal. The Argentinian won the first set 7-5, but world's number 12 controlled the rest of the match, winning following sets 6-0 6-3.
Juan Pablo Varillas will be Norrie's semifinal's opponent. The Peruvian lives a great week in Buenos Aires so far, defeating such a big names as Dominic Thiem and Lorenzo Musetti, without losing any single set on his road to semifinal. Both wins were a notable upsets, as both Thiem and Musetti were rated as a pre-match favorites against Varillas with the average odds between 1.30 and 1.40.
