Australia’s Jordan Thompson should overcome the not insignificant hurdle of world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz if he needs to proceed his best-ever run on the ATP’s Cincinnati Open.
Having earned his spot within the draw as a qualifier, Thompson on Monday toppled American John Isner in a pair of tiebreaks to clinch a 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-2) win in a match during which neither participant broke serve and Isner crushed 20 aces.
The one hour, 58 minute win alerts the primary time Thompson has progressed to the second spherical on the ATP Masters 1000 event.
His reward is a round-of-32 showdown with Alcaraz, the primary time the 2 gamers have met in competitors, because the 20-year-old Spaniard continues preparations to defend his 2022 US Open title.
The matchup gives Thompson one other probability to check himself towards the most effective within the recreation, after pushing a number of grand-slam champion Novak Djokovic earlier than dropping 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 7-5 at Wimbledon in July.
Felix Auger-Aliassime ended a five-match dropping streak with a come from behind 4-6 6-2 6-3 victory over Matteo Berrettini to arrange a second-round conflict with France’s Adrian Mannarino.
“My mindset today was no matter what happens, I wanted to have the best attitude possible, the best effort from the first point to the last,” Auger-Aliassime, who improved to 14-13 on the season, mentioned.
“I was able to turn that frustration from the first set – having break points and losing them, not being careful enough with my service game – and turning that into something positive to bounce back really strong.
“It has been a difficult season. I’ve been very lucky, yearly I’ve grown within the recreation and improved my rating however this yr it is a new problem and I want to simply accept it as nicely.”
The 12th-seeded Auger-Aliassime will look to keep his winning ways going in his first ever meeting with Mannarino in the second round.
Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori and Nicolas Jarry of Chile additionally superior within the morning earlier than night rain halted the play of a number of different first-round matches on the US Open tune-up occasion.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
