Cincinnati Open: Carlos Alcaraz suffers shock exit by the hands of Frenchman Gael Monfils

Carlos Alcaraz suffered a shock second-round exit on the Cincinnati Open by the hands of veteran Frenchman Gael Monfils in a rain-delayed conflict.

The match was left balanced on a knife’s edge on Thursday night time when rain cancelled play for the night time after Alcaraz took the primary set 6-4 however discovered himself down 3-1 within the second-set tie-break.

Once they returned to motion underneath vivid however windy circumstances on Friday, it was 37-year-old Monfils who turned the match round to seal a surprising 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 success towards the second seed.

Alcaraz was taking part in his first hard-court event since Miami in March, and his first occasion since profitable a silver medal on the Paris Olympics.

Monfils might want to pull double responsibility in Ohio, the place he’ll return later to face fifteenth seed Holger Rune within the third spherical.

Defeat for Alcaraz means he won’t overtake Novak Djokovic within the ATP rankings this week.

German Alexander Zverev can cross each by profitable the title in Cincinnati and grow to be world No 2 and second seed on the US Open, avoiding each Djokovic and Alcaraz earlier than the ultimate.

Zverev reached the quarter-finals with a 7-5 7-6 (8-6) victory over Spain’s Pablo Carrero Busta.

Story of the Tape

Bonjour Skai!

Why did Alcaraz smash his racket?

“I’ve seen him smash a racket once before but not in the manner that he did it here. That was quite something. It was like a pressure cooker absolutely exploding. He was clearly bubbling under the surface,” stated Annabel Croft on Sky Sports activities Tennis.

Tim Henman stated: “Why is he so frustrated when he’s only been on court probably for 15-20 minutes today? That’s probably something to do with the conditions.

“While you mirror on a number of the unforced errors and a number of the errors he made, it simply goes to indicate that he is human. He’ll want a little bit of time to decompress.”

Felix Auger-Aliassime recorded the milestone fiftieth Masters 1000 win of his profession with a 6-3 6-1 victory over Casper Ruud to arrange a gathering with British No 1 Jack Draper in a while Friday.

And Andrey Rublev loved a snug passage to the last-eight, defeating American Brandon Nakashima 7-6 (7-5) 6-1.

Rublev will now play world No 1 Jannik Sinner within the quarter-finals, whose third spherical opponent Jordan Thompson withdrew earlier than their match due to a rib harm.

Within the girls’s draw, high seed Iga Swiatek defeated Marta Kostyuk to achieve the Cincinnati Open quarter-finals, advancing 6-2 6-2 in 70 minutes.

Swiatek will subsequent face both Jasmine Paolini, the French Open and Wimbledon finalist, or 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva as she bids to achieve the semi-finals for a second yr operating.

What’s developing on Sky Sports activities Tennis?

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Cincinnati Open (ATP 1000) – Till August 19
Cincinnati Open (WTA 1000) – Till August 19
Winston-Salem Open (ATP 250) – 18-24 August
Tennis within the Land, Cleveland (WTA 250) – 18-24 August
Abierto GNP Seguros, Monterrey (WTA 500) – 19-24 August
US Open (ATP/WTA) – 26 August – 8 September

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