Carlos Alcaraz vs. Dusan Lajovic: schedule, TV channel, and where to watch the Rome Masters 1000 match online.

Carlos Alcaraz is back. After missing the Mutua Madrid Open due to discomfort in his left hamstring, the Murcia-born tennis player returns to action at the Rome Masters 1000, the final test before Roland Garros.

Over the past few days, the Spaniard has been seen training at the Foro Italico with a cumbersome compression bandage on his left leg, a preventative measure to avoid relapses, but he has demonstrated a good level in the matches he has played with Alexander Zverev and Alex de Miñaur.

Alcaraz arrives eager to compete in Rome, a tournament he missed last year due to injury and where, in his only appearance, in 2023, he was eliminated in the round of 32 by Hungarian Fabian Marozsan.

For his debut, he will face a veteran, Serbian Dusan Lajovic. At 34, he currently sits at 131st in the ATP rankings, far from the level he displayed in 2019, when he reached the 23rd position in the world after reaching the final of the Monte Carlo Masters 1000, where he lost to Italian Fabio Fognini.

Alcaraz and Lajovic have faced each other four times before, with the current world number 3 emerging victorious each time, having never dropped a set. Their first meeting was in the second round of the 2022 Australian Open (6-2, 6-1, 75), while the other three came in the spring of 2023: the quarter-finals in Buenos Aires (6-4, 6-2), the quarter-finals in Rio de Janeiro (6-4, 7-6(0)), and the round of 32 of the Miami Masters 1000 (6-0, 7-6(5)). In total, the El Palmar native has won two on clay and two on hard courts.

Lajovic eliminated Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka in the first round in two sets (7-5, 6-1) after overcoming the two qualifying rounds against American Ethan Quinn (7-5, 6-7(5) and 6-3) and British Cameron Norrie (6-1, 4-6 and 6-3).

Alcaraz is trying to regain the number two ranking in the world, currently held by Zverev. To achieve this, he needs to reach at least the semifinals in Rome, provided the German doesn't win the tournament.

Furthermore, the draw favored the Spaniard, who would avoid a matchup with world number one Jannik Sinner until a potential final. The Italian returns in Rome from the three-month ban he agreed to with the World Anti-Doping Agency for his positive clostebol test.

The match between Carlos Alcaraz and Dusan Lajovic is scheduled for this Friday, May 9, in the second shift on center court, starting at 1:00 p.m.

The match between Alcaraz and Borges will be broadcast on Movistar+ on the Movistar Plus channel (channel 7) , the platform that owns the rights to the Rome Masters 1000. You can also follow the minute-by-minute coverage and all the tournament information on ABC.es.