During this time, Alcaraz seemed to become distracted by perceived bobbles he felt had impacted missed shots, and at one point booted a ball away after his return of serve landed out.
But after a marathon game, he broke Struff’s serve for 5-4 and then served out for the match, his penultimate point won with the deftest of drop-shots, just over the net.
“I knew it was going to be really difficult,” Alcaraz said afterwards. “His game is suited pretty well to the grass — big serve — so I tried to put it to the net as much as I could.
“I’m just proud about getting the win in four sets. It was stressful! To be honest, I was suffering in every service game that I did today. It was stressful; it was about surviving.”