ATP
Scary, new-look Alcaraz advances in menacing fashion
Carlos Alcaraz debuted a menacing buzzcut look to go with his dangerous tennis as the second seed started his US Open campaign with a 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 defeat of Reilly Opelka.
Alcaraz stepped onto the Ashe showcourt with his head almost completely shaven in the style of a gangbanger and used his racquet as a weapon to disarm the game of the American big server across the net.
The Spaniard made sure to bury any memories of his 2024 disaster here when he exited in the second round to Botic van De Zandschulp.
Alcaraz had to battle through at various stages of the night-time match to ease into the second round, breaking into a 5-4 lead in the third set after breaks in each of the two previous chapters.
“He’s a really tough player with that serve. I couldn’t get the rhythm that I wanted to get in the match,” the winner said.after defeating the season ace leader
“I’m just really happy with everything I’ve done today. I think the return was one of the best things I did today.
“I just tried to play my best tennis, tried to be focused on my serve. Overall, I think I had a really great performance.”
Opelka was held to just 14 by the seed as his annual tally rose to 669.
Alcaraz, the 2022 Open champion, now stands a flawless 19-0 in Grand Slam first rounds and improved to 55-6 on the season of six titles.
He last played a week ago, winning the Cincinnati tuneup as finals opponent and ATP No. 1 Jannik Sinner was only able to last five games due to illness.
Alcaraz has now won his seventh straight match as he heads into a second-rounder against Italian Mattia Bellucci.
The 67th-ranked Opelka has now won here since 2021
Casper Ruud ignored any of the possible marijuana smoke drifting his way on court, with the Norwegian advancing 6-1, 6-2, 7-6 (5) over unseeded Austrian Stefan Ofner.
The 12th seed had complained before the event of the fumes which seemed to envelop a practice court he was using.
“For me, this is the worst thing about New York. The smell is everywhere, even here on the courts. We have to accept it, but it’s not my favorite smell.”
“It’s quite annoying to be playing, tired, and just meters away, someone is smoking marijuana. We can’t do anything about it unless the law is reversed, but I have strong doubts that will happen.”
Ruud has won all three of his meetings with Ofner, whose mistakes and recovery from a wrist injury made easy pickings for the Scandinavian seed.
“He was struggling a bit in the first two sets,’’ Ruud said. “I got a lot of free points. I was playing good, aggressive as I could and also getting a lot of balls in and he was making some errors (43 unforced).
“The (third set) tiebreak was really close, a bit up and down, but I’m really happy to get it in the end. It was a great win for me in front of a great crowd as always.”
One-time No. 2 and double Roland Garros finalist Ruud has played three finals at the majors, also including here three years ago, where he lost to Alcaraz.
Ofner had not played since Wimbledon as he dealt with his wrist problem. Ruud played the exhibition-style mixed doubles final here last week with Iga Swiatek, with that pair defeated by doubles specialists and 2024 mixed winners Andrea Vavassori and Sara Errani.
Two-time champion Casper Ruud had to work for more than two and a half hours to overcome Jaime Faria, the Portuguese who put out Stan Wawrinka in the first round at the Gstaad Swiss Open on Thursday.
Faria was riding the momentum from Tuesday’s defeat of three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka, set to retire this season and beaten in an opening match at his home venue.
Faria had his eye on a second upset as he faced Ruud, who lifted the trophy at this elite alpine village in 2021 and 2022.
Ruud ahd to dodge a bullet and mount a comeback to get through the second-round test against the Portuguese.
After dropping the opening set in a tiebreaker, Ruud played patiently as Faria saved five break points in the sixth game of the second set before failing on the sixth.
Ruud then pulled away for a 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-2 victory, his first since Roland Garros.
“Sometimes it is hard to say when you get a good feeling and you start to win some games in a row,” the winner said.
“You try from the first game to the last, but suddenly something clicked in the middle of the second for me, luckily.”
He added: “I had to really fight hard and if I played one bad game in the second and he serves well, it could be over and it would be time to go home. But luckily I can extend the stay.”
The Scandinavian could join Spaniards Sergi Bruguera and Alex Corretja as three-time winners in the Alps, with Ruud now standing 10-1 here over his career.
Stefanost Tsitsipas said he slept soundly prior to finishing off a darkness-interrupted match on Thursday as he eliminated local Jerome Kym at the Gstaad Swiss Open.
The Greek who once cracked third in the world and the 186th-ranked Swiss returned to the clay after darkness on Wednesday night left them hanging at 5-all in the third set.
Tsitsipas revved up his game from the resumption to emerge into the quarter-finals 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5).
The second seed now standing 85th in the world after several poor seasons and a split with his father as his coach, said getting his rest was not a problem after the interruption.
“It was strange going to bed and not being finished. I visualised what I wanted to do, my shot patterns.
“It worked out pretty well.
“I had a good night’s sleep, I was not too stressed and I recovered to get ready for the continuation.”
After saving break points in the first game on Thursday, Tsitsipas triumphed in the final-set tiebreaker
“I’m relieved I was able to save a couple of break points.. I put my game together and made it )victory) happen again.”
The Greek now faces off against Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech for a semi-final spot.
“I’m expecting a lot of big serves, the altitude (1050m) helps. I’ll try to build consistency around my own serve.”
Stefanos Tsitsipas was handed a reprieve due to fading light with his second round match at the Swiss Open Gstaad stopped with the Greek deadlocked with local Jerome Kym 6-4, 6-7 (2), 5-5.
The math had to be halted as night fell and electronic linecalling computers could not read the path of the ball on the clay in contrast to humans who could have carried on for a few additional minutes..
The 27-year-old Tsitsipas was taking the worst of it in the concluding stage after a promising start.against a journeyman opponent ranked 186.
Tsitsipas, his ranking down to 85th after once standing third in the world, lashed out verbally in the last few games, apparently frustrated with his racquet reactions.
The Greek was quick to make his point of an overnight stoppage to the chair umpire while Kym – who reached 5-all with a love service hold – left the court with a defiant fist pump for his public in this alpine resort village.
The cutoff came after just over two hours of play, with the contest to be concluded on Thursday. The winner reaches the Friday quarter-finals.
Tsitsipas produced his last notable result in April with a fourth-round showing at the Madrid Masters,
He is aiming for his second quarter-final of the season after Doha in February and his 2025 Barcelona 15 months ago.
Tsitsipas stands 10-1 vs. players ranked outside the top 100 this season with a sole loss to No. 104 Italian Matteo Arnaldi at the Roland Garros second round.
History repeats for Argentine spoiler in Gstaad
Ruud survives a scare to secure Gstaad quarters
Tsitsipas finishes off Kym after overnight pause
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