CINCINNATI: Carlos Alcaraz let loose his frustrations with a violent racquet smash in a 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 defeat on Friday at the ATP and WTA Cincinnati Open that he called the “worst match” of his career.

The reigning Roland Garros and Wimbledon champion could not match the wily skills of 37-year-old French opponent Gael Monfils, two decades in the game and a threat to any young gun.

“It was the worst match that I ever played in my career,” Alcaraz said. “I couldn’t play. I don’t know what happened. Honestly, I couldn’t, I couldn’t control myself. I couldn’t be better. It was impossible to win, and that’s all.”

The Spaniard added: “I came here thinking I’m going to feel good. I’m going to put in a good tennis, because I know how to play on this court.” Alcaraz said he had never before broken a racquet in anger but this match was the exception.

The ATP number three and 2023 Cincinnati runner-up heads to the US Open starting a week from Monday without a hardcourt win and only one second-round summer cement match in his legs.

“It’s really difficult to find some goodstuffs from this match — I want to forget it and try to move on to New York,” he said. “I’ll try to practice well, to get used to those courts. And I will forget this match.”

Monfils then started a third-round catch-up match only hours after his victory, but ran out of puff as Holger Rune scraped out a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 comeback victory.

While frustrated second seed Alcaraz was fuming at his form and occasionally screaming at his team, world number one Jannik Sinner celebrated a quiet 23rd birthday, with fate handing him a present in the form of a walkover.

The Italian advanced effortlessly into the quarters when Australian opponent Jordan Thompson withdrew before their match with a rib injury.

Sinner next gets a rematch of last week’s quarter-final in Canada, which he lost to Andrey Rublev. The Russian finished a rain-delayed match over Brandon Nakashima 7-6 (7/5), 6-1.

Third seed Alexander Zverev advanced into the last eight over Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta 7-5, 7-6 (8/6).

American Ben Shelton, the 12th seed, downed Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan 6-4, 6-3 in the third round and advances to meet Zverev.

Number five Hubert Hurkacz continued his quick return from July knee surgery with a 6-3,3-6, 6-1 defeat of Italy’s Flavio Cobolli.

Frances Tiafoe of the United States outlasted the Czech Republic’s Jiri Lehecka 6-4, 6-7 (12/10), 7-6 (7/5). Tiafoe, who squandered three match points in the second-set tiebreaker, moves on to face Hurkacz in the quarter-finals.

Norway’s seventh-seeded Casper Ruud didn’t make it out of the second round, as Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime won 6-3, 6-1.

Auger-Aliassime didn’t see out the day in the tournament, though. Forced to play a second match later, he fell 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 to Great Britain’s Jack Draper.

SWIATEK CRUISES

Women’s top seed Iga Swiatek defeated Marta Kostyuk for the second time this season, powering into the quarter-finals 6-2, 6-2.

The Pole backed up her win over the Ukrainian at Indian Wells last March and now stands 3-0 in the rivalry without the loss of a set.

Top-ranked Swiatek was able to finish off victory efficiently after struggling through three sets in the previous round to defeat Varvara Gracheva.

Swiatek secured the opening set in 31 minutes and was untroubled as she rolled through the second.

“I’m happy that I kept my intensity, in the first match, it got a little bit down,” Swiatek said. “But I was ready in every game. I’m happy I was solid. I was disciplined with all the things that I wanted to take care of.”

Fifth seed Jasmine Paolini of Italy was bounced from the tournament 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 by Mirra Andreeva of Russia, who broke Paolini’s serve to take a 5-3 lead in the second set and never looked back.

Swiatek and Andreeva will meet in the quarter-finals.

Three-time semi-finalist and third seed Aryna Sabalenka beat Monfils’s wife, Elina Svitolina, 7-5, 6-2 for her fourth quarter-final here.

Sabalenka will next face 10th seed Liudmila Samsonova of Russia, who was a 4-6, 6-0, 6-3 winner over Elina Avanesyan of Armenia.

Sixth-seeded Jessica Pegula of the United States worked double duty but earned two wins to reach the quarter-finals.

First, Pegula rallied past the Czech Republic’s Karolina Muchova 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, before she downed the United States’ Taylor Townsend 6-2, 6-3 to reach a quarter-final against former US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez.

Canada’s Fernandez advanced with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Russia’s Diana Shnaider, while Spain’s Paula Badosa also moved on with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan.

In a pair of second-round matches, Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen of China earned a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Magdalena Frech of Poland, while Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova earned a 7-5, 6-4 win over Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki.

Pavlyuchenkova subsequently defeated Zheng 7-5, 6-1 in the third round later in the day.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2024