Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday beat the heat and humidity at the Cincinnati Open as the world No. 2 advanced to the fourth round.
The Spanish second seed kept his exposure to a minimum in 32°C conditions, taking an efficient 95 minutes to dispatch Serb Hamad Medjedovic 6-4, 6-4 for his 50th match win of the year.
“Medjedovic doesn’t like to run that much, so I tried to move him around as much as possible, but it was difficult with the ball flying so much and his shots coming so fast,” Alcaraz said. “I tried to defend in a good way.”
Photo: AFP
Alcaraz has been on a tear this year as he chases Jannik Sinner in the ATP rankings, and now owns 13 straight victories at the Masters 1000 level.
He faces Luca Nardi for a spot in the quarter-finals after the Italian defeated Jakob Mensik 6-2, 2-1 with the Czech retiring after 42 minutes.
Francisco Comesano and Reilly Opelka both felt the heat of their midday match, which was interrupted for 45 minutes by rain, as the Argentine limped to a 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 7-5 win while saving three match points.
Comesano needed a medical time-out midway through the second set, but came back out to continue what turned into a fight of nearly three hours against the American.
Opelka called for the doctor just moments from his eventual loss, complaining of dizziness and high blood pressure after being broken for 5-6 in the final set.
The 71st-ranked South American faces ninth seed Andrey Rublev, who beat Australian Alexei Popyrin 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/5), 7-5.
In the WTA draw, second-seeded Coco Gauff eased into the fourth round when opponent Dayana Yastremska withdrew before their match on Tuesday.
Yastremska was unable to play due to illness, the WTA said.
Seventh-seeded Jasmine Paolini defeated American Ashlyn Krueger 7-6, (7/2), 6-1, while German qualifier Ella Seidel continued her strong showing with a 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (8/6) defeat of McCartney Kessler.
Two-time Grand Slam champion Barbora Krejcikova outlasted American Iva Jovic 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.
Rainstorms and lightning spoiled the night games, suspending matches involving Germany’s Alexander Zverev and American Jessica Pegula, and keeping Ben Shelton of the US and Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut from starting their match.
Other winners in the round-of-32 of the men’s singles at the Lindner Family Tennis Center on Tuesday were Karen Khachanov of Russia and Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic.
In the women’s singles, Iga Swiatek of Poland, Varvara Gracheva of Russia and Lucia Bronzetti of Italy also advanced.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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