Barcelona, April 14 -- Carlos Alcaraz bounced back strongly from his Monte Carlo final loss to Jannik Sinner, easing past Finland's Otto Virtanen 6-4, 6-3 on Tuesday to advance to the second round of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell.

Currently ranked No. 2 in the ATP Rankings after surrendering the top spot to Sinner, the 22-year-old Spaniard has a chance to reclaim the World No. 1 position with a title-winning run in Barcelona. Alcaraz will next meet Tomas Machac after the Czech beat Sebastian Baez 2-6, 6-4, 6-1.

"It feels great to be back and to get another win in front of my people in Barcelona; it means everything. This morning was my first practice here to adapt to the conditions. Different conditions to Monte-Carlo, but overall I ...