(London) Carlos Alcaraz rallied from a one-set deficit before defeating Arthur Rinderknech in his first game of the season on grass at the Queen’s Club Championships on Tuesday.
World No. 2 Alcaraz won 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(3) over 83rd-ranked Rinderknech. Rinderknech took advantage of Arthur Fils’ forfeit to secure a spot in the main draw.
“It was a very tough game,” Alcaraz said. I had difficulty adapting at the start of the match, adapting my tennis, my game, to the grass. ยป
Rinderknech gave Alcaraz trouble early in the game with his powerful serve and commanding presence at the net. The Spaniard was playing his seventh career match on grass, a first outside of Wimbledon.
Alcaraz also erased a service break in the third set before dominating their rival in the tiebreaker. He landed some memorable shots during the tiebreaker and eventually converted his third match point.
“For me it’s difficult to play here, but I like playing on grass and I wanted to participate in this tournament,” noted Alcaraz.
It was Alcaraz’s first match since losing to Novak Djokovic in the French Open semi-finals on clay. Alcaraz then went to Ibiza to take his mind off things.
Second seed Holger Rune defeated American Maxime Cressy 7-6(4), 7-6(3), earning his first grass court match on the ATP Tour. Rune had lost in the first round in all three of her grass outings last year.
American Frances Tiafoe won her first game as a member of the world’s top 10, beating Botic van De Zandschulp 6-2, 6-4.
Tiafoe is the fourth seed in London. He won the grass-court tournament in Stuttgart last week, moving him up to 10th in the world, his career-high ranking.
Britain’s Andy Murray’s winning streak on grass, however, came to an end after 10 wins. Murray, who is coming off a back-to-back two grass-court Challengers, lost 6-3, 6-1 to seventh-placed Australian Alex de Minaur.
This defeat ended his hopes of being a top seed at Wimbledon, where he was crowned twice.
