Monfils stuns Alcaraz in Cincinnati second round

Carlos Alcaraz, who was runner-up at the Western & Southern Open in 2023, is out after one match in 2024.

Alcaraz lost his rain-delayed showdown against Gael Monfils 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 at the Lindner Family Tennis Center on Friday afternoon. The Spaniard was leading by a set but trailed 3-1 in the second-set tiebreak when play was suspended due to rain on Thursday night. It was pretty much all Monfils when the match resumed on Friday, as the Frenchman ultimately prevailed in a total of two hours and 30 minutes.

Although Alcaraz immediately got the mini-break back, Monfils raced to 6-3 lead in the tiebreaker and converted set point at 6-5 with a service winner.

One break midway through the decider was all the 37-year-old needed.

Monfils, ranked No 46, will face Dane Holger Rune, the No 15 seed, next. It will take place later on Friday. He defeated Australian and Montreal champion Alexei Popyrin (7-5, 6-3) in the previous round of the Cincinnati Masters.

Alcaraz would have been seeded second at the U.S. Open if he had reached at least the Cincinnati quarter-finals. Now he will be No 3 behind Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic.

Cincinnati Masters 1000, other second-round results :

• Casper Ruud vs. Felix Auger-Aliassime: friday
• Holger Rune beat Nuno Borges (Q): 6-3, 7-6 (8)
• Jack Draper beat Stefanos Tsitsipas (9): 3-6, 6-4, 7-5
• Ben Shelton (12) beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry: 6-7 (6), 7-6 (7), 6-3
• Brandon Nakashima (WC) beat Arthur Fils: 7-5, 7-6 (3)
• Andrey Rublev (6) beat Zhizhen Zhang: 6-4, 6-3
• Fabian Marozsan beat Grigor Dimitrov (8): 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
• Pablo Carreno Busta beat Max Purcell (WC): 6-3, 6-3
• Hubert Hurkacz (5) beat Yoshihito Nishioka (Q): 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-1
• Flavio Cobolli beat Luciano Darderi: 7-6 (4), 3-1 ret.
• Alexander Zverev (3) beat Karen Khachanov: 6-3, 6-2
• Jiri Lehecka beat Daniil Medvedev (4): 7-6 (2), 6-4
• Jordan Thompson beat Sebastian Baez: 6-2, 6-4
• Frances Tiafoe beat Lorenzo Musetti (14): 6-3, 6-2
• Jannik Sinner (1) beat Alex Michelsen (Q): 6-4, 7-5

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