Carlos Alcaraz avoided another scare at the Queen’s Club ATP 500 event as the top-seeded Spaniard dispatched France’s Arthur Rinderknech with little fuss 7-5, 6-4 to reach the semi-finals on Friday.
Wimbledon champion Alcaraz toiled for three hours in stifling heat on Thursday to edge past fellow Spaniard Jaume Munar in a titanic scrap and afterwards admitted he did not know how he was still standing.
It was far more straightforward against unseeded Rinderknech, the player he also beat in his opening match two years ago when he went on to win the title at the prestigious Wimbledon warm-up event in west London.
Photo: AP
The 22-year-old converted each of his two break points as he extended his sequence of match wins to a career-long 16.
“I could be better [physically]. Honestly I was thinking I was going to feel much worse than I did today,” five-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz said on court. “I’m glad it was only one hour 20 minutes today.”
Britain’s Jack Draper continued his Wimbledon build-up as he reached the semi-finals at Queen’s for the first time with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 defeat of American Brandon Nakashima.
Draper not only kept himself on track for the prestigious ATP 500 title, but also secured the win that guarantees a top-four seeding at Wimbledon where he would be the big home hope.
The 23-year-old was fully tested by world number 32 Nakashima and his powerful game began to misfire as he lost the second set on a baking hot day on Andy Murray Arena.
Draper settled back into the groove in the deciding set and broke serve in the seventh game with one of his trademark forehand pile drivers. The left-hander had to save a break point when serving for the match at 5-4 but recovered to seal victory and set up a clash with Czech Jiri Lehecka who had earlier beaten Britain’s Jacob Fearnley 7-5, 6-2.
“It means the world to me to reach the semi-finals here,” Draper said, bidding to become the first British player to win the title at the prestigious west London club since Murray won for a record fifth time in 2016. “I think there’s going to be an even bigger buzz at the weekend and that will give me more energy to keep progressing.”
While being ranked fourth means Draper would avoid either defending champion Alcaraz or world number one Jannik Sinner until the semi-finals at Wimbledon, Draper shrugged off the significance of that when asked about it.
“I kept getting asked about that by the journalists but I’ve got to reach the semi-finals first,” he said. “But it is an incredible position. I was at Wimbledon last year ranked 40 so to go there as fourth seed is a testament to all the hard work my team has done, so very proud of that.”
Alcaraz was to face Spanish veteran Roberto Bautista Agut in the semi-final after press time last night. Agut saw off Danish contender Holger Rune 7-6, 6-7, 6-2 in the quarter-final yesterday.
The 2025 International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) Mr Universe Chinese Taipei competition began yesterday at Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, with more than 150 athletes showcasing their physiques. It is the first time in 16 years that the IFBB has held a competition in Taiwan, the last being the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung. The professional bodybuilding contest is bringing together athletes from Taiwan and 16 other countries, including Malaysia, Japan, the US, France and Mexico. IFBB Chinese Taipei president Hsu An-chin said in an interview yesterday that the event came to Taiwan thanks to his lobbying efforts at last
Top seeds Alexander Zverev of Germany and American Coco Gauff on Tuesday advanced to the third round of the Canadian Open after both players were pushed hard by their opponents. World No. 3 Zverev, playing in his first match since his first-round loss at Wimbledon, was far from his best, but emerged with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 win over Adam Walton under the lights in Toronto. Momentum shifted firmly in Zverev’s favor when he won a 52-shot rally in the first set tiebreak and he sealed the win on a double fault by the Australian in the second set. “It was a very
Cycling great Marianne Vos won the opening stage of the women’s Tour de France with a brilliant late attack on Saturday. The 38-year-old Dutchwoman overtook her Visma–Lease a Bike teammate Pauline Ferrand-Prevot approaching the line, and then held off Mauritian rider Kim Le Court in the closing meters of a grueling uphill finish. Ferrand-Prevot looked set to win the stage, but the Frenchwoman attacked too early from 600m and could not withstand the late surge from Vos, who punched the air with her left fist as she crossed the line. Moments later, Vos hugged an exhausted-looking Ferrand-Prevot, the Paris-Roubaix winner. “I didn’t know if
TAIWANESE EXITS: Fellow Australian Christopher O’Connell joined Tristan Schoolkate as a winner following his 6-1, 6-2 defeat of Tseng Hsin-chun Australian qualifier Tristan Schoolkate on Monday dispatched rising Brazilian talent Joao Fonseca 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 at the ATP Toronto Masters, ensuring a breakthrough into the world top 100. The 24-year-old from Perth moved to 98th in the ongoing live rankings as he claimed his biggest career victory by knocking out the ATP NextGen champion from November last year. Schoolkate, son of a tennis coach, won his first match over a top-50 opponent on his sixth attempt as he ousted the world No. 49 teenager from Brazil. The qualifier played a quarter-final this month in Los Cabos and won through qualifying for his
RSS