Alcaraz reaches winning landmark at China Open and Pegula continues late-season charge

 

[September 30, 2024]  BEIJING (AP) — Carlos Alcaraz cruised past Tallon Griekspoor 6-1, 6-2 at the China Open for his 200th tour-level victory on Sunday.

The victory sent Alcaraz to the quarterfinals, and made him the third player born in this century to achieve the 200-win feat along with Jannik Sinner and Felix Auger-Aliassime.

“I’m really happy about it, 200 wins is a great number,” the 21-year-old Alcaraz said.

“But I am already looking for the third hundred. I just want to keep going, to keep rolling. I am looking forward to playing matches and to keep doing the things that I am doing.”

Pegula keeps momentum
In the women's tournament, third-ranked Jessica Pegula responded to losing a marathon first set to rally for a 6-7 (9), 6-1, 6-2 win over Veronika Kudermetova in the third round.

The No. 6-ranked Coco Gauff beat Katie Boulter 7-5, 6-2. Four-time major winner Naomi Osaka will now play Katie Volynets on Monday after heavy rain in the afternoon.

Pegula has won 17 of her last 19 matches, including defending her title in Toronto and making finals at Cincinnati and the U.S. Open, where her only defeats have come to Aryna Sabalenka, the top-seeded player in Beijing.

The American made three service breaks in the first set, but also lost three of her own, with Kudermetova prevailing in a lung-busting 20 point tiebreaker to take the lead.

The loss of the tiebreaker seemed to spur Pegula to life as she found her groundstroke range to break her Russian opponent's serve twice in each set to take the match in just over 2 1/2 hours. It was Pegula's first win against the 39th-ranked Kudermetova in three attempts.

Pegula will play the 15th-seeded Paula Badosa in the fourth round after the Spaniard beat Rebecca Sramkova 7-5, 7-5.

Poland's Magdalena Frech, seeded 23rd, overcame a disastrous start to rally to a three-set win over 12th-seeded Diana Shnaider 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 and next faces the 595th-ranked wildcard Zhang Shuai, who beat Greet Minnen of Belgium 6-2, 6-3.

Carlos Alcaraz of Spain returns a forehand shot to Tallon Griekspoor of Netherlands during their men's singles match of the China Open tennis tournament, at the National Tennis Center in Beijing, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

In the men's draw, local favorite Bu Yunchaokete upset Paris Olympics bronze medalist Lorenzo Musetti 6-2, 6-4 for the 22-year-old's first victory against a top 20-player.

The 96th-ranked Bu will next play either fifth-seeded Andrey Rublev or Alejando Davidovich Fokina.

Seventh-seeded Karen Khachanov made 15 fewer winners and four more unforced errors than Argentine Francisco Cerundolo, but found a way to win the big points in a 7-6 (4), 7-6 (9) victory to take him through to the quarterfinals and a matchup against Alcaraz.

Alcaraz needs to make at least the semifinals this week to rise above Alexander Zverev to No. 2 in the rankings. Zverev is not playing in Beijing as he recovers from an illness.

Japan Open
Sixth-seeded Holger Rune of Denmark beat home favorite Kei Nishikori 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the quarterfinals of the Japan Open, and Arthur Fils of France beat defending champion Ben Shelton 7-5, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (2).

Tomas Machac was the first man through to the semifinals in Tokyo with a 7-6 (2), 6-3 victory over American qualifier Alex Michelsen. Machac had eight aces and broke Michelsen's serve twice as he advanced in 95 minutes.

Machac will play Ugo Humbert in the semifinals after the Frenchman won by walkover against Jack Draper of Britain.

Humbert was leading Draper 7-5, 2-1 when the U.S. Open semifinalist retired from the match because he was unable to continue.

All contents © copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved