Carlos Alcaraz was able to find a way through the opening round of the Japan Open despite going down with an injury during the contest.
The 22-year-old appeared to twist his left ankle along the way to beating Argentina's Sebastian Baez 6-4 6-2 in Tokyo on Thursday (September 25).
The Spaniard was competing in his first singles event since winning the US Open and dethroning Jannik Sinner as the world no. 1.
He had recently been in action at the 2025 Laver Cup, where he was unable to help steer Team Europe to a victory over Team World.
Alcaraz's fresh ankle issue appeared during the fifth game of the first set in Tokyo, as he looked to return a Baez backhand near the baseline.
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The top seed began to limp before going down and receiving medical attention. During the medical timeout, his left foot got heavily strapped as he remained committed to finishing out the match.
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Soon after receiving treatment, there was a half-hour rain delay, handing Alcaraz extra time to let his ankle heal.
The world's top men's player seemed to be fine once the match resumed, as he returned to close out the opening set before taking the second set in just over half and hour.
Tokyo Debut: ✅
— ATP Tour (@atptour) September 25, 2025
World No. 1 @carlosalcaraz survives injury scare before defeating Baez 6-4 6-2 on his Tokyo debut @japanopentennis | #kinoshitajotennis
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Alcaraz reacts to major injury scare in Japan
Alcaraz touched on the injury scare after taking care of business on what was his debut appearance in the Japanese capital.
"I was scared, I'm not going to lie. When I landed on the ankle, I was worried because it didn't feel good at the beginning," he said in his on-court interview. "In the first five minutes I thought I wouldn’t continue."
"I'm just happy that I was able to play after that and play such good tennis," the six-time major winner added.
Alcaraz then mentioned what his immediate plans would be to ensure that he can continue competing at the ATP 500 event.
"Let's see. I think it's not going to be easy the next day and a half for me. I will try to recover, to do whatever it takes to be ready for the next round."
The world no. 1 will play Zizou Bergs in the next round on Saturday (September 27) after the Belgian overcame Alejandro Tabilo.
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