Alcaraz rallies to win in the 1st match at Queen’s Club
LONDON –
Carlos Alcaraz’s first grass match outside of Wimbledon turned out to be a tough one.
Top-seeded Alcaraz played the Queen’s Club Championships for the first time, winning 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (3) on Tuesday against lucky loser Arthur Rinderknech – a No. 83-ranked Frenchman who only found out that he was playing after the withdrawal of Arthur Fils a few hours before the match.
“It was a very difficult game,” said Alcaraz. “It was very difficult for me in the beginning to adapt my tennis, my game, to the grass.”
Alcaraz had difficulties dealing with the long Rinderknech’s big serve and net coverage in what was the No. 2-ranked Spaniard’s seventh career game on grass, and the All England Club’s first away.
Alcaraz recovered from a break early in the third set to dominate the tiebreak, which began with an epic point where Alcaraz fell to the ground after racing to the net to hit a cross-court winner.
The fourth run, which put Alcaraz ahead 3-1, was also memorable for his excessive lob during the run that landed on Rinderknech’s baseline and set up another forehand winner. Alcaraz then converted his third match point.
“It’s difficult for me to play here, but I like playing on grass and it’s a tournament I really wanted to play,” said Alcaraz.
It was Alcaraz’s first match since losing to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals of the French Open, after which he went to the Spanish party island of Ibiza.
Earlier in the Wimbledon warm-up tournament, second-seeded Holger Rune beat American Maxime Cressy 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3) for his first ATP victory on grass after losing three in the previous year first round. — also at Wimbledon.
Frances Tiafoe won his first match as a top-10 player by beating Botic van De Zandschulp 6-2 6-4.
Tiafoe is seeded fourth in London after winning the grass court Stuttgart Open title on Sunday and climbs to a career high of No. 10 in the rankings. Another American, third-seeded Taylor Fritz, later plays Bernabe Zapata Miralles.
