Cincinnati, (APP – UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 17th Aug, 2024) Carlos Alcaraz let out his frustrations with a powerful racket smash in a 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 loss to Gael. Monfils on Friday at the ATP and WTA Cincinnati Open.
The Roland Garros and Wimbledon champion could not match the guile of his 37-year-old French opponent, two decades into the game and a threat to any young gun.
Alcaraz, ranked third in the world, now heads into the US Open starting a week from Monday without a hardcourt win and just one second-round summer clay match in his legs.
The Spaniard lost last year’s Cincinnati final to Novak Djokovic.
Alcaraz committed 40 unforced errors while Monfils had 48 in victory with 15 aces in a rain-stopped match Thursday night during the tie-breaker.
While the frustrated second seed fumed at his form and occasionally shouted at his team, world number one Jannik Sinner celebrated a quiet 23rd birthday, with fate handing him a gift in the form of a walk.
The Italian eased into the quarters when Australian opponent Jordan Thompson pulled out ahead of their match with a rib injury.
Sinner now has a rematch of last week’s quarterfinals in Canada, where he lost to Andrey Rublev. The Russian completed a rain-delayed match over Brandon Nakashima 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 on Friday.
Rain delayed play until the early afternoon, with Alcaraz coming out after a 90-minute delay in the hope of finishing off Monfils after winning the first set, but trailing in the tiebreak from the night before.
But the French had another agenda, with Monfils taking the breaker to level the sets and breaking Alcaraz for 2-1 in the third.
Monfils double-faulted on his first match point, but sent a winner into the corner on his second chance to clinch the victory.
The number 46 started the week here by surprising Montreal winner Alexei Popyrin of Australia.
Fifth seed Alexander Zverev advanced to the last eight over Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta 7-5, 7-6 (8/6).
Seventh seed Casper Ruud’s poor run of form continued as the Norwegian fell 6-3, 6-1 to Felix Auger-Aliassime in 68 minutes, with the Canadian 14 aces.
– Cruises No. 1 Swiatek –
Women’s top seed Iga Swiatek defeated Marta Kostyuk for the second time this season, moving into the quarterfinals 6-2, 6-2.
The Pole backed up his win over the Ukrainian in Indian Wells last March and is now 3-0 in the rivalry without dropping a set.
Due to the rainy morning, Swiatek stepped on the court without any pre-match practice, but showed no negative effects.
Swiatek was able to finish off the win efficiently after battling for three sets in the previous round to defeat Varvara Gracheva despite losing a handful of match points.
The seed claimed his 29th win of the season at the Masters level and will be competing in his 18th quarter-final at the elite series.
Swiatek secured the opening set in 31 minutes and was untroubled as he cruised through the second.
“It was a little windy and the conditions were tough,” Swiatek said. “I tried to focus on the easy things, like keeping the ball.
“It wasn’t easy to win without a warmup, but I’m glad I was able to go out and play some great tennis anyway.”
Sixth seed Jessica Pegula won a late second-round match over 2023 runner-up Karolina Muchova 5-7, 6-4, 6-2.
Mother-of-two Caroline Wozniacki continued her WTA comeback effort but lost to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-5, 6-4.
Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen defeated Poland’s Magdalena Frech 6-1, 7-5.
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