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Carlos Alcaraz knocks off Jannik Sinner in Paris

[November 04, 2021] Spanish teenager Carlos Alcaraz recorded 24 winners while notching a 7-6 (1), 7-5 victory over eighth-seeded Jannik Sinner on Wednesday in the second round of the Rolex Paris Masters.

The 18-year-old Alcaraz overcame 25 unforced errors while winning the match in two hours and eight minutes.

"It's my third Top 10 win of the year," Alcaraz said. "I think Jannik and I will have a great rivalry in the future. ... I think that I played really, really aggressive, more than him. I think that was one of the keys."

Sinner was plagued by 26 unforced errors. The Italian had 13 just winners.

Alcaraz will next face French qualifier Hugo Gaston, who had 23 winners and 24 unforced errors while beating 12th-seeded Pablo Carreno Busta 6-7 (3), 6-4, 7-5. The Spaniard had 38 winners and 37 unforced errors in defeat.

Another upset was turned in by American Taylor Fritz, who knocked off fifth-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev 7-5, 7-6 (2) in just 80 minutes.

Fritz had an 11-9 edge in aces and had 27 winners against 17 unforced errors. Rublev had 18 winners and 17 unforced errors.

Fritz will next face 10th-seeded Brit Cameron Norrie, who had 14 winners and only five unforced errors while beating American Reilly Opelka 6-3, 6-4 in 74 minutes.

Among other upsets, Germany's Dominik Koepfer produced a 6-3, 7-5 win over Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada; and American Marcos Giron outlasted 11th-seeded Diego Schwartzman of Argentina 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4).

Also, Alexei Popyrin of Australia advanced when third-seeded Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas retired due to injury. Popyrin led 4-2 in the opening set.

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Tsitsipas declined to reveal the nature of his injury afterward but was seen grabbing his right arm repeatedly during the match.

"I have had an issue there for quite a while now," Tsitsipas said. "It has gotten bigger in the last couple of weeks, so I'm just trying to protect it. I felt the pain playing in the match, and I just don't want for it to get worse than it is now."

Second-seeded Danill Medvedev of Russia advanced with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Ilya Ivashka of Belarus.

Medvedev wasn't sharp while having 20 winners against 24 unforced errors.

"At the beginning of the match (my level) was good but in the middle of the match there were some things I could do better," Medvedev said. "The most important thing is the victory."

Medvedev next faces American Sebastian Korda, who defeated Marin Cilic of Croatia 6-2, 6-4.

Fourth-seeded German Alexander Zverev defeated Serbian Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 7-6 (5). He will next face 16th-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, who outlasted Russian Karen Khachanov 4-6, 6-2, 6-0.

Seventh-seeded Hubert Hurkacz of Poland was a 7-5, 7-6 (4) winner over American Tommy Paul, and 15th-seeded Gael Monfils beat fellow Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2.

--Field Level Media

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