Carlos Alcaraz advances at Cincinnati Masters

World No. 2 men’s tennis player Carlos Alcaraz made a successful start at the Cincinnati Masters 1000 tournament.

The Spaniard, playing his first hard-court match since losing the Wimbledon final about a month ago, defeated Damir Džumhur from Bosnia and Herzegovina 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 in the second round, CE Report quotes BTA.

Alcaraz took the first set in just 29 minutes, winning the last six games, but the roles reversed in the second set, with Džumhur winning five consecutive games to level the match at 6-2. Exactly one hour after the start, the players entered the decisive third set.

In the final set, the five-time Grand Slam champion showed his potential. The Spaniard controlled the game from the start and sealed the victory with a 6-3 set.

In the third round, Alcaraz will face Serbian Hamad Medjedovic, who eliminated the 26th seed Talon Griekspoor from the Netherlands with a 6-4, 7-6(3) win.

Fast victories in the second round were also achieved by German Alexander Zverev and American Ben Shelton.

Third seed Zverev, the 2021 champion, needed only 67 minutes to eliminate American Ninesh Basavareddy 6-3, 6-3. Zverev hit 12 aces, won 82% of his first serves, and did not face a single break point in the match. His next opponent will be fellow American Brandon Nakashima, who defeated Belgian Alexander Blockx 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(5).

Shelton, who recently won the Masters title in Toronto, was leading 6-1, 3-1 when his opponent, Argentina’s Camilo Ugo Carabelli, retired due to injury. In the third round, Shelton will face Spanish veteran Roberto Bautista Agut.

Another Toronto finalist, Karen Khachanov, also won his match. The Russian passed the first round in Cincinnati after defeating France’s Valentin Royer 6-4, 7-6(6).

However, another Russian, Daniil Medvedev, was surprisingly eliminated from the tournament. The former world No. 1 lost 7-6(0), 4-6, 1-6 to Australia’s Adam Walton. For Medvedev, who won the Cincinnati tournament in 2019, this is his fourth loss in the last seven matches. For Walton, this is his first career victory over a top-20 player. In the next round, Walton will face Czech player Jiri Lehecka.