Top seed Carlos Alcaraz overpowered Italian qualifier Andrea Vavassori 6-2, 6-1 in just over an hour on Thursday in the second round of the ABN AMRO Open at Rotterdam, Netherlands.
The Spaniard, No. 3 in the ATP rankings, won 85 percent (22 of 26) of his first-serve points and saved his only break point while converting 5 of 8.
Alcaraz advances to the quarterfinals against Spain’s Pedro Martinez, who knocked off fifth-seeded Holger Rune of Denmark, 6-4, 6-1. Martinez was 4 of 8 on break-point opportunities to 1 of 2 for Rune.
Third-seeded Alex de Minaur of Australia overcame 12 aces by the Czech Republic’s Jakub Mensik — who also double-faulted five times — to win 6-4, 6-4. Fourth-seeded Andrey Rublev of Russia won a battle with Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan 7-6 (2), 7-6 (7). Sixth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece advanced, but seventh-seeded Arthur Fils of France fell to Germany’s Daniel Altmaier in three sets.
Dallas Open
Canada’s Denis Shapovalov won the first four points of a third-set tiebreaker and went on to upset top-seeded Taylor Fritz 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2) in the second round at Dallas.
Shapovalov earned the last service break of the match to take a 2-0 lead in the second set. Neither player had a break point in the final set, and Shapovalov wound up with a 15-9 edge in aces.
In other second-round action, third-seeded Tommy Paul, the reigning champion, needed three sets to oust qualifier Ethan Quinn 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in 2 hours, 13 minutes.
In a matchup of Americans, Paul converted three of six break-point opportunities while failing to save two. He won 76 percent of his first serves (41 of 54) and 57 percent of his second serves (20 of 35). Quinn put up similar percentages (72 and 62) and matched Paul with nine aces.
Second-seeded Casper Ruud of Norway had a much easier day, downing qualifier Michael Mmoh of the U.S. 6-1, 6-4. Sixth-seeded Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic and eighth-seeded Matteo Arnaldi of Italy also moved on, as did U.S. wild card Reilly Opelka.
Spain’s Jaume Munar knocked off fourth-seeded American Ben Shelton, 6-2, 7-6 (3), and Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka downed fifth-seeded Frances Tiafoe of the United States 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
–Field Level Media
