Sinner and Alcaraz wobble but advance to Monte Carlo quarter-finals

TDT | Monaco

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Principality Of Monaco Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz both suffered second-set stumbles on Thursday in their race for the number one ranking but recovered to reach the last eight of the Monte Carlo Masters.

Sinner, who said he ran out of steam in the second set, beat the wildly erratic Tomas Machac, 6-1, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3.

Alcaraz followed Sinner on to the centre court and his match went to a similar pattern before he beat Tomas Etcheverry 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.

Alcaraz, the defending champion, could lose the No.1 ranking to Sinner, who was finishing a ban last year and has no ranking points to lose this week. The Italian came into Monaco after winning the Masters tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami.

On Thursday, Sinner galloped through the first set but slowed in the second, allowing Machac to hit his way back into the match.

“I was struggling a little bit, was a bit tired,” Sinner said.

“I felt great before the match, in the second set I struggled a bit with trying to find the right energy. This can happen. I tried to push myself through which I’ve done.”

Machac squandered two set points on serve at 5-4 in the second but then romped through the tie-break.

That ended Sinner’s record streak of 36 straight sets in 1000-level events but he stayed cool to stretch his run of Masters wins to 19.

Even with his opponent struggling, the Czech kept flailing for winners. He handed Sinner the third-set initiative when wild hitting handed the Italian a break to love in the third game.

Sinner held serve twice before breaking to love to wrap up victory in two hours and one minute.

His quarter-final opponent, sixth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, needed to expend less energy. The Canadian was leading Casper Ruud 7-5, 2-2 when the Norwegian retired.

“I hope I can recover as much as I can for tomorrow,” said Sinner. Alcaraz also blazed through the first set.

“I was hitting the ball really well in the first set, like ten out of ten,” said the Spaniard.

But in the second he made 23 unforced errors.