Damir Dzumhur might have the greatest parents in the world as far as naming children. He has one of the best names in tennis. What he doesn't have is the type of game it takes to defeat ATP No. 2, Carlos Alcaraz. That is no slight to the Bosnian. Most players can't beat the young Spaniard.
The 33-year-old Dzumhur has won three titles on the ATP tour, but none since 2018. He has a career losing record and doesn't have the power to compete at the top levels of tennis. Still, no offense to the Bosnian. He has won three more tournaments than most of us can ever we did.
Of course, Alcaraz has won two more Grand Slams than Dzumhur has won career titles for a reason. The Spaniard is extremely gifted in every aspect of tennis. If he doesn't beat himself, any opponent not named Jannik Sinner doesn't have a good chance of winning.
Carlos Alcaraz defeats Damir Dzumhur to move into the third round at the Cincinnati Open
Seemingly, the only potential issue against Dzumhur in the second round of the Cincinnati Open came with Alcaraz serving at 2-1 in the first set, and the game got to deuce because Alcaraz was making silly errors. Once he self-corrected, it wasn't much of a match.
By the end of the first set, the Spaniard had to be asking himself whether he wanted to try different shots to see if they would work for future matches or if he wanted to end the match quickly. He took the first set 6-1, matching what Sinner had done in his second-round match.
But then the second set happened, and things drastically changed. The Bosnian got two breaks of a suddenly too-relaxed Alcaraz and jumped out to a 5-1 lead. The fact that Dzumhur got a break at all was surprising, but to see the score be so one-sided in his favor was even more shocking. The Bosnian won the set 6-2.
The second set was a good example of the divide between ATP No. 1 Jannik Sinner and No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz. The Italian is far more consistent, and doesn't usually suffer shock defeats or make matches go longer than they should. The Spaniard does, and that cost him unexpectedly at some non-major tournaments.
Perhaps this will change as the Spaniard's career unfolds, but compared to Roger Federer and a healthy Rafael Nadal, Alcaraz is far less ruthless in matches against seemingly lesser-quality players.
The third set seemingly returned to normal. Alcaraz made shots that only he can make, and he played far more efficiently. Alcaraz finished with 20 winners and 44 unforced errors, which he will have to clean up moving forward, but it was barely enough to get by Dzumhur. Alcaraz led by a break at 4-2, but then was broken back.
Sadly, for the Bosnian, he could take advantage and double faulted at the end of his next service game to give Alcaraz another break. The Spaniard then held to take the final set 6-3.
Carlos Alcaraz appeared to have a fairly easy draw early at the Cincinnati Open, but he needs to play better than he did in the second round. He will next face Tallon Griekspoor or Hamad Medjedovic in the third round.