Category: Tennis

• Italian trailing 0-5 when he decided to pull out

• Alcaraz confident rival is ‘going to come back stronger’

Carlos Alcaraz has won the Cincinnati Open for the first time in his career after the world No 1, Jannik Sinner, his great rival, was forced to retire from their highly anticipated final with illness while trailing 0-5 in the opening set.

Sinner, who had looked under the weather from the start of the match, explained later that he had been struggling with illness since Sunday. “I’m super sorry to disappoint you,” the Italian said.

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• Britons to meet in first round of 16-pair event

• Raducanu and Alcaraz will play Draper and Pegula

Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu, will face each other in the first round of the revamped US Open mixed doubles. The event has been moved to before the main tournament, on 19 and 20 August, with $1m (£750,000) in prize money at stake for the winners of the 16-pair event.

Draper will play with the American Jessica Pegula after their original partners, Paula Badosa and Tommy Paul, withdrew. With both inside the top five in the singles rankings, the pair have been handed the top seeding and will kick off their campaign against the wildcard pair of Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz.

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• World No 3 recovers from early break to win 7-5, 6-3

• Paolini beats Kudermetova 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-3 in other semi

Iga Swiatek, the third seed, defeated Elena Rybakina 7-5, 6-3 on Sunday to reach her first Cincinnati Open final. The Pole had her hands full in the early stages of the 98-minute match but took advantage of a sudden dip in Rybakina’s form to win four consecutive games and wrap up the first set before easing through the second.

“That was a tough match,” Swiatek said. “At the beginning the level was pretty crazy. We played so fast that sometimes we couldn’t even run to the second ball. But I was there to play with intensity and good quality and I am super happy with the performance. I served much better, so for sure it helped and I wouldn’t change anything.”

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• World No 1 wins 7-6 (4), 6-2 against Térence Atmane

• Alcaraz sees off Alexander Zverev to make final

Jannik Sinner, the top seed and defending champion, ended the French qualifier Térence Atmane’s dream run at the Cincinnati Open with a 7-6 (4), 6-2 win to reach the final of the US Open warm-up event.

Sinner, playing on his 24th birthday, won a remarkable 91% of his first-serve points, did not face a single break point during the 86-minute match and converted two of five break points in his first career meeting with Atmane, the world No 136.

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• Former Wimbledon champion races to 6-1, 6-4 victory

• She defends previously banned coach Stefano Vukov

Elena Rybakina has described herself as satisfied by the return of her coach Stefano Vukov as she produced an imperious performance at the Cincinnati Open, dismantling Aryna Sabalenka, the world No 1 and defending champion, 6-1, 6-4 to reach the semi-finals.

Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, put together a performance of the highest quality on Friday afternoon as she served efficiently and completely overpowered one of the most destructive shotmakers in the world.

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• Italian comfortably beats Félix Auger-Aliassime 6-0, 6-2

• Fifth man this century to hit 25 straight hard-court wins

Jannik Sinner extended his winning run on hard courts to 25 matches with a ruthless dismissal of Félix Auger-Aliassime in the Cincinnati Open quarter-finals. Playing in his first tournament since lifting his fourth grand slam title at Wimbledon, the world No 1 and defending champion powered to a 6-0, 6-2 victory against the Canadian.

Auger-Aliassime had won both his previous matches against Sinner but could offer little resistance on Thursday, with the 23-year-old Italian beginning and ending the contest with runs of six games in a row, completing victory in just 71 minutes.

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• Williams to play first slam singles since 2023

• Oldest US Open singles entrant since 1981

• Seven-time major champ won in 2000 and 2001

Venus Williams will make her return to Grand Slam singles at the US Open after a two-year absence, having received a wildcard invitation on Wednesday to compete at Flushing Meadows at age 45.

Williams will be the oldest singles entrant at the tournament since Renee Richards played there at 47 in 1981, according to the International Tennis Federation.

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• Former world No 1 received diagnosis in 2022

• Disease can affect vision, speaking and swallowing

Monica Seles says she was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis – a neuromuscular autoimmune disease – three years ago.

The nine-time grand slam singles champion says she first noticed symptoms of the disease while she was swinging her racket.

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• American claims third career ATP title in Toronto

• Shelton fires 16 aces in Masters 1000 final win

• Moves to career-high world No 6 with victory

American fourth seed Ben Shelton battled from a set down to clinch his first ATP Masters 1000 title at the Canadian Open on Thursday, defeating Karen Khachanov of Russia 6-7(5), 6-4, 7-6(3).

The world No 7 capped off an impressive week that saw him beat Italian 13th seed Flavio Cobolli, Australian ninth seed Alex de Minaur and American second seed Taylor Fritz on his way to achieving his first Masters 1000 title and the biggest title of his career.

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• 18-year-old wins first WTA Tour title in Toronto

• Mboko joins Urban, Andreescu as home champs

• Osaka falls in first WTA 1000 final since 2022

Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko completed a dream run to the National Bank Open title Thursday night, overcoming a slow start to beat Japanese star Naomi Osaka 2-6, 6-4, 6-1.

The 18-year-old Mboko – ranked 85th in the world – won her first WTA Tour title and joined Faye Urban in 1969 and Bianca Andreescu in 2019 as the only Canadians to win the home event in the open era.

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• British No 1 needed replacement for Mark Petchey

• Roig will help Raducanu prepare for US Open and beyond

Emma Raducanu has added Rafael Nadal’s former coach Francisco Roig to her team on a full-time basis before this month’s US Open, it is understood.

The 2021 winner at Flushing Meadows has worked with British coach Mark Petchey on an informal basis since March and enjoyed a positive run of results. However, Petchey’s TV commitments meant he was always unable to become Raducanu’s full-time coach and after a trial with Roig following Wimbledon, the 22-year-old will begin work with him in Cincinnati this week. He has agreed a contract until the end of 2025.

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• Defending champ wins 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in round of 16 at National Bank Open

• Australian faces top seed Alexander Zverev in last eight in Toronto

Defending champion Alexei Popyrin rallied from a set down to beat world No 9 Holger Rune 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 and reach the National Bank Open quarter-finals.

The Australian will put his growing reputation as one of the biggest giant-killers on the tour to the test when he faces Alexander Zverev in the last eight, after the top seed benefited from Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo withdrawal while the German was leading 6-4, 1-0.

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• British No 1 beaten 6-2, 6-1 in Montreal third round

• Anisimova lines up meeting with Elina Svitolina

Emma Raducanu has crashed out of the Canadian Open in straight sets, going down 6-2, 6-1 to the American fifth seed Amanda Anisimova in the third round.

Raducanu had won both of their previous meetings but rarely looked like extending that run as she held her serve just once in either set in Montreal.

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• British No 1 continues run of good form at Canadian Open

• Raducanu will now face Amanda Anisimova or Lulu Sun

Emma Raducanu continued her run of good form as she booked a place in the third round of the National Bank Open in Montreal with a straight-sets win over Peyton Stearns.

The world No 33 proved too strong for the American 32nd seed, a couple of breaks in each set clinching a 6-2 6-4 win.

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