Zheng in a winning frenzy

Alcaraz loses in the second round of Cincinnati

Carlos Alcaraz loses to Gael Monfils(Bild: 2024 Getty Images)

Less than two weeks after his defeat in the Olympic final in Paris, tennis star Carlos Alcaraz was eliminated from the Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati on Friday after an opening round bye.

The Spaniard, seeded number two, lost to Frenchman Gael Monfils 6:4, 6:7(5), 4:6 in a match that was interrupted the day before due to rain. The top-seeded Italian Jannik Sinner reached the quarter-finals thanks to a knockout victory over Australian Jordan Thompson.

(Bild: 2024 Getty Images)

Tokyo Olympic champion Alexander Zverev (3) and Russia's Andrey Rublev (6) also made it through. The Norwegian Casper Ruud (7) lost to the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, as he did in the Olympic quarter-finals, this time by the score of 3:6, 1:6. In the 2:30 hour match between Monfils and Alcaraz, the tie-break ultimately decided the match, otherwise neither player had any significant advantages. Alcaraz even scored four points more, while the 37-year-old Monfils could afford twelve double faults with 15 aces. Monfils won the third duel between the two for the first time.

Olympic champion in a winning frenzy
The women's quarter-finals included top seed Iga Swiatek from Poland. The Chinese Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen (7) made her first appearance after her Paris triumph in round two with a 6:1, 7:5 win over Magdalena Frech from Poland. The 21-year-old now has twelve wins in a row, having also won on clay in Palermo before the Olympic tournament.

Meanwhile, Czech Marketa Vondrousova and Brit Cameron Norrie withdrew from the US Open, which starts the week after next. Both had also withdrawn from the Olympic tournament due to injury.