Cincinnati, Medvedev and Alcaraz full speed ahead. Sonego stop

The adventure of world number 1 Daniil Medvedev begins in the best possible way in the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati, the last major tournament before the United States Open. The Russian beat the dangerous Dutchman Botic Van De Zandschulp 6-4 7-5 and is only one victory away from ensuring he remains at the top of the world rankings at least until the fourth and final Grand Slam of the season is over.

The match

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After a first set played with the usual boldness, the Russian easily took a break even in the second set, but at this point the Dutchman immediately recovered the break on 3 all and saved, on 4 all, three break points who would send Medvedev to serve for the match. At 4-5, but with the service available, the world number 1 saved a set point before conquering the last three games of the match avoiding the dangers of a dangerous third set. In the round of 16 Medvedev is expected to win the match between the American Tommy Paul and the Canadian Denis Shapovalov.

Carlos is there

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After the slip at the Canadian Open against Tommy Paul, Carlos Alcaraz immediately recovered by beating the American Mackenzie McDonald 6-3 6-2 on his Cincinnati debut. “I am really happy – Alcaraz said at the end of the match – of how I played today. One of the objectives of this tournament is to grow and play well, always under pressure. But I also have to have fun as I did for the first months of this fantastic 2022. . Having fun playing very high tennis and at the same time always trying to be relaxed. This time I did it and I’m very happy. ” Alcaraz led both sets with a lot of authority, opening the two partials with as many breaks and never going into trouble. In the next round he is expected by Marin Cilic who beat Emil Ruusuvuori 6-4 6-7 7-5.

Outside Sonego

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On the other hand, our Lorenzo Sonego was eliminated, beaten 7-6 3-6 7-5 by the American wild card Ben Shelton, 19-year-old American Ncaa champion. To decide the challenge the bad tie-break played by Sonego in the first set, seasoned with a few too many mistakes especially with the forehand and a certain difficulty in obtaining easy points with the service. But above all the rain that interrupted the game just when Sonego was preparing to serve and to drag the decisive tie-break to the challenge. Upon returning to the field Sonego hoisted himself on 30-15, an excellent response from Shelton and two errors with Sonego’s forehand have in fact given the game to the young American. Today the second rounds are completed: the British derby at the opening between Andy Murray and Cameron Norrie, then the expected Taylor Fritz against Nick Kyrgios and in the evening the debut of Rafael Nadal against Borna Coric. On the secondary fields, Paul-Shapovalov, Tiafoe-Korda, Auger Aliassime-De Minaur, Isner-Hurkacz and Tsitsipas-Krajinovic should be mentioned. On field 4, at 5pm Italian time, Fognini-Rublev followed by Sinner-Kecmanovic.