CINCINNATI: Carlos Alcaraz sprinted into the Cincinnati Open quarter-finals Wednesday night with a convincing 6-1, 6-4 win over Italian Luca Nardi.
The World No. 2 won 13 of the first 14 points of the match and closed out the first set in just 27 minutes, making up for a late start to his feature night match, after the Centre Court schedule was impacted by an extended rain delay earlier in the day.
It was a contrasting story in the second set, with Alcaraz trailing 2-4 before tallying four consecutive games to advance after 80 minutes. The 22-year-old won a lengthy, eight-deuce game at 4-4, during which Nardi double faulted on back-to-back points to allow the second seed to serve for the match.
The Spaniard, who is seeded to meet World No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the final for the fourth consecutive tournament in which they have both featured, next plays ninth seed Andrey Rublev, who beat Francisco Comesana 6-2, 6-3 to avenge last year’s Wimbledon first-round loss to the Argentine. Rublev dropped six points behind his first serve and overwhelmed Comesana with his firepower to advance in 64 minutes.
A 21-time tour-level titlist, Alcaraz is seeking his first Cincinnati crown. He reached the final in 2023 and held championship point before rival Novak Djokovic stormed back to lift the trophy.