Aug 17 – Carlos Alcaraz won his 50th match of the year in personal-best time, defeating Jordan Thompson 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 in the second round of the ATP 1000 event Cincinnati Masters.
Alcaraz will face the winner of the third-round match between Frenchman Ugo Humbert and American Tommy Paul, who stunned the reigning US Open champion last week in Toronto.
On Tuesday night, the Spaniard, who moved to 12-0 in his opening-round matches this year, hit the 50-win mark in his 12th competition of the year. His 50th match win came last season in the semi-finals of the US Open, his 14th tournament of the season.
The 20-year-old, who improved to 50-5 this year, is aiming for his seventh championship of 2023 to go along with titles from Buenos Aires, Indian Wells, Barcelona, Madrid, Queen’s, and Wimbledon.
Alcaraz must reach the final this week in order to remain atop the ATP Rankings for the 34th week in a row on Monday. Anything less than a run to the final opens up various possibilities for Serbian great Novak Djokovic to reclaim the top ranking.
Djokovic, on the other hand, made his first appearance in the United States in nearly two years, playing doubles with fellow Serb Nikola Cacic but losing 4-6, 2-6 to British-Kiwi combo Jamie Murray and Michael Venus.
This was the Serb’s first competitive match since losing in the Wimbledon final to world number one Carlos Alcaraz. Furthermore, the ATP 1000 event is Djokovic’s sole tournament before the US Open, which begins on August 28 at Flushing Meadows in New York.
On Wednesday night, the 23-time grand slam champion will begin singles play against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
Djokovic has not played in North America since losing in the 2021 US Open final due to vaccine requirements requiring overseas travellers to get immunised against Covid-19.
