Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday fought through a second-set slump to post a roller-coaster 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 victory over Damir Dzumhur in his opening match at the Cincinnati Open.
The Spaniard, playing his first tournament since losing to Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon final, raced through the first set, but completely lost his way in the second, dropping his serve twice against the 33-year-old Bosnian.
Alcaraz regained his intensity and cut down his errors in the third set as a seventh ace took him to a match point that was converted when Dzumhur fired wide.
Photo: AFP
“It was just a roller coaster,” said the second seed, who was winning his 12th straight match at the Masters 1000 level after taking the titles in Monte Carlo and Rome. “Lots of good feelings, bad feelings, back to the good ones. I am happy to get the win at the end. I know that I have chances to do better.”
Alcaraz committed 44 unforced errors and said conditions in Cincinnati, where he was runner-up in 2023, were always tricky.
“The ball flies a lot, goes super fast,” he said. “You have to be ready to be in a good position for each shot and that is really difficult to do.”
Photo: AFP
Third seed Alexander Zverev found things more straightforward, winning 6-3, 6-3 against US wild-card Nishesh Basavareddy in the night session.
Zverev needed just 66 minutes to get past Basavareddy, a 20-year-old ranked 109th in the world.
The German put 41 of his 50 first serves in play and did not face a break point.
Photo: Aaron Doster-Imagn Images
Basavareddy saved one match point with a blistering service return, but Zverev secured the win with his 12th ace.
Ben Shelton of the US, coming off his first Masters 1000 title in Toronto, eased through 6-3, 3-1 when Camilo Ugo Carabelli retired with a knee injury.
Shelton’s early night was a boon after a draining Toronto tournament which only ended on Thursday night.
“It’s not easy to play a couple of days after winning any title,” Shelton said. “I feel for Camilo and it’s obviously not the way that you want to go through. I hope that he has a quick recovery.”
Asked about the tape on his own right thigh, Shelton said he has “a few muscle things” going on.
Sixth seed Alex de Minaur of Australia, the Washington champion, lost to Reilly Opelka of the US 7-6 (8/6), 6-4, but another Australian, Adam Walton, secured a first top-50 win of his career with a 6-7 (0/7), 6-4, 6-1 upset of former world No. 1 and 2019 Cincinnati champion Daniil Medvedev of Russia.
In the women’s singles, French Open champion Coco Gauff battled through a tough first set to beat China’s Wang Xinyu 6-3, 6-2.
Gauff, who lifted the trophy in Cincinnati in 2023 and went on to claim her first Grand Slam title at the US Open that year, had to grind her way through the first set, but the second seed steadied in the second set to run out the winner in 71 minutes.
“It was a rough start, but it was about just trusting myself and the work we’ve done in practice,” Gauff said.
Third seed Jessica Pegula, the runner-up last year, defeated Kimberly Birrell 6-4, 6-3.
Seventh seed Jasmine Paolini, a finalist last season at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, also advanced, beating Maria Sakkari of Greece 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/5).
In the women’s doubles, Shuko Aoyama of Japan and Cristina Bucsa of Spain defeated Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Xinyu Jiang of China 6-2, 7-6 (7/4), while Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic and Peyton Stearns of the US ousted Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien and Fanny Stollar of Hungary 6-4, 7-5.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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