​Carlos Alcaraz has been nothing short of spectacular since his return to tennis after spending four months on the sidelines with a wrist injury. The Spaniard was out of action from the Barcelona Open in April until the US Open in late August, where he reached the quarterfinals in his first tournament back. Alcaraz then guided Team Europe to Laver Cup glory before capturing his 27th ATP title at the Japan Open. On Saturday, he continued his hot streak by getting his Shanghai Masters campaign off to a strong start, beating Juan Manuel Cerundolo in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3. Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images for Laver CupPatrick Mouratoglou identifies Carlos Alcaraz’s greatest qualityReacting to Alcaraz’s Japan Open triumph in a post on Instagram, Serena Williams’ former coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, identified a special quality the 23-year-old possesses. “We all have this image of Alcaraz playing incredible tennis,” began Mouratoglou. “But I think his greatest quality is to be able to win when he plays badly and that’s exactly what he did last week [in Tokyo]. He makes a lot of unforced errors, but the power is here. Everything’s there. The touch, the power but it’s lacking consistency a lot.“He played well enough to win, and he found ways to win. If the question was, is his wrist 100%, I think the answer is yes. If the question was, is he still into tennis, the answer is yes because he didn’t play great and he won. If the question is, is he back, the answer is yes, he’s back.”Alcaraz was tested in almost every match of his Japan Open campaign, which started with a three-set battle against Alex Michelsen. Across the run, he dropped two sets and was forced to four tiebreaks. Alcaraz ultimately beat Jiri Lehecka in the final to defend his title. Photo by Rie KIKUCHI / AFP via Getty ImagesCarlos Alcaraz analyses his own level after Shanghai openerAfter his second-round victory at the Shanghai Masters over Cerundolo, Alcaraz was asked in his press conference to assess his own level. Well, I think it was really, really good,” replied the seven-time Grand Slam champion. “First match of every tournament is never easy. Conditions are really different, quite different than Tokyo. I only had two days here to adapt myself. I didn’t practice on the centre court, so I just stepped on the court trying to find how fast is the court, how the conditions are out there, and trying to play my best.“At the beginning, it was a little bit uncomfortable for me, didn’t get the good rhythm. Suddenly, I just realised that I have to play aggressively, trying to go to the net as much as I can, and I think it worked. So, happy about it, and let’s see if I’m going to play a little bit better in the next round.”The Shanghai Masters is one of three ATP Masters 1000 tournaments Alcaraz has yet to win, along with the Canadian Open and the Paris Masters.