DOHA.- The number one in the world Carlos Alcaraz took a step forward in the campaign to bag his first title of the Qatar Open by beating this Tuesday Arthur Rinderknechthe best French racket, 6-4 and 7-6 (7/5) in their debut in the first round in Doha.
The 22-year-old Iberian prodigy achieved his eighth consecutive victory in one hour and 47 minutes, the first since he won in Australia at the beginning of the month and became the youngest tennis player to obtain all the Grand Slam crowns.
Although he suffered more than expected against Rinderknech, number 30 in the ranking of the ATPAlcaraz kept his record clean against the Frenchman, whom he had previously defeated in their four matches, two on a hard court, like the Qatari one, and two on grass.
The Spanish right-hander will face the Frenchman in the round of 16 Valentin Royer (60th), 24 years old, and who on Monday beat his compatriot Pierre-Hugues Herbert (190°) 6-0 and 6-3.
His great opponent, the Italian, qualified for that instance with solvency on Monday. Jannik Sinnerworld number two, after overwhelming the Czech Tomas Machac (31st) by 6-1 and 6-4.
Gauff continues ahead in Dubai
Coco Gauff (4th in the world) recovered from their surprising elimination in Doha last week with a comfortable victory over Anna Kalinskaya (23rd) in the tournament Dubai WTA 1000 this Tuesday.
The American, who lost to the Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto In her debut in Qatar, she did not make the same mistake against Kalinskaya and advanced in the second round match 6-4, 6-4.
Gauff will face the Belgian Elise Mertens (22nd) in the round of 16 of this WTA 1000 tournament, the second category in the women’s circuit after the Grand Slams.
The American suffered at times in Dubai, with 12 double faults on serve, but she broke Russian Kalinskaya’s serve six times to win.
“It wasn’t the prettiest, but it was enough for today,” said third-seeded Gauff. “It was quite windy. I was just trying to adjust; we were both having consistency problems on the track,” she added.
