Alcaraz romps into US Open fourth round, Raducanu loses to Rybakina

Second seed Carlos Alcaraz overcame a mid-match worry over his knee to swat aside Italy’s Luciano Darderi 6-2 6-4 6-0 in the US Open third round on Friday, claiming his 80th Grand Slam win.

The Spaniard has been on an extraordinary run, with a 42-2 record since April, and pushed on after taking a second-set medical timeout on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Alcaraz’s one hour 44-minute victory sends the 2022 US Open champion into a meeting on Sunday against France’s Arthur Rinderknech, who defeated compatriot Benjamin Bonzi 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2.

Alcaraz is aiming to finish the season on a high after winning the French Open in June before losing in the final of Wimbledon last month.

The five-time Grand Slam singles champion opened Friday’s play on the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center’s main court, and admitted he had been nervous about his early 11.30am local time start.

“I’m not an early morning person so it’s difficult for me to wake up in the morning,” Alcaraz said. “One of the good things today though I woke up early, did the warm up and felt good.

“Starting at 11:30 my first goal is to start well with a good energy and rhythm. I played great tennis, good performance so I’m proud of that.

Alcaraz needed a medical timeout while leading 5-4 in the second set for treatment on his right knee, but later said he had no injury concerns.

“I just asked the physio to have a look at it because I wanted to be feeling good physically for that last set,” he said. “I’m not worried about it.”

Elena Rybakina returns to Emma Raducanu during their third round match of US Open on Friday. Reuters

In another early game, Czech 20th seed Jiri Lehecka sailed into the next round with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Belgium’s Raphael Collignon.

A frustrated Stefanos Tsitsipas took exception to his opponent’s tactics after blowing a match point and exiting the US Open in the second round courtesy of a five-set loss to Daniel Altmaier.

The 7-6(5) 1-6 4-6 6-3 7-5 defeat means former world number three Tsitsipas will end the season without playing in the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time since 2017.

Altmaier deployed the legal but rarely used underarm serve a few times as he rallied in the fourth set and Tsitsipas let the German know he did not approve as the pair shook hands at the end of a contest that lasted four hours and 26 minutes.

The crowd booed as the German world number 56 backed away with his hand raised refusing to engage in the discussion.

Ninth seed Elena Rybakina produced a ruthless display to end Emma Raducanu’s run at the US Open, advancing to the fourth round for the first time with a 6-1 6-2 victory on Friday. The 2022 Wimbledon champion, who had beaten Raducanu in their only previous meeting in 2022, struck early in both sets and never lost her focus as she sealed victory in 62 minutes.

Rybakina wasted no time imposing herself, breaking serve in the opening game with a number of clean returns before consolidating behind her own powerful delivery. She raced to a 3-0 lead, her ball-striking consistently pushing Raducanu onto the back foot.

The Briton, who had swept through her first two rounds without dropping serve, was repeatedly undone by errors and found no answers as Rybakina closed out the set.

The second set followed a similar script. Raducanu’s first service game slipped away with another flurry of mistakes, and Rybakina capitalised with a straightforward hold to consolidate.

The Kazakh landed just 47% of her first serves, yet Raducanu was unable to make any inroads against the second delivery. The 22-year-old briefly lifted the crowd by saving two break points, greeted by a loud cheer of encouragement.

But the reprieve was short-lived as Rybakina dragged her across the baseline before finishing the rally with a forehand winner out of reach, breaking again as Raducanu vented her frustration by swiping her racquet.

A tearful Coco Gauff battled through another shaky performance to defeat Croatia’s Donna Vekic.

Third seed Gauff, the 2023 US Open champion, could be seen sobbing into her towel at times during an error-strewn first set before clinching a 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 victory.

Agencies