Carlos Alcaraz beat Hamad Medjedovic in straight sets to reach the fourth round of the Cincinnati Open as the searing heat caused issues for other players on Tuesday.
Alcaraz, who is using Cincinnati to get ready for the US Open live on Sky Sports from August 24, struggled to break down the big-hitting Medjedovic but dug deep in the key moments to come out on top 6-4 6-4.
The Spaniard will play Luca Nardi in the last 16 on Thursday after the Italian benefitted from a mid-match retirement for his opponent Jakub Mensik.
“He’s a really powerful player. I know he doesn’t like running that much so I tried to make him run as much as I could which was difficult.
“I’m really happy to get the win and play some good tennis even if I don’t feel my best all the time.”
The opening six games were shared before Alcaraz found a breakthrough in a long 13-minute game to go 4-3 up and held his break advantage to take a gritty first set.
Alcaraz was cruising in the second set after he broke in the fifth game but Medjedovic broke back immediately to make it 3-3.
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Tim Henman tells Sky Sports how the new breed of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz can inspire each other to take tennis to new levels
However, the Serbian was visibly fighting the heat and humidity as he began to shorten the points which did not pay off as two attempted drop shots hit the net in the seventh game and restored Alcaraz’s break.
This time, the French Open champion did not give Medjedovic a sniff in his own serve and comfortably won his 50th match of the season.
Gauff gets walkover as players struggle in heat
In the women’s draw, US Open champion Coco Gauff received a walkover after her scheduled opponent Dayana Yastremska withdrew due to illness, citing the heat.
American Ashlyn Krueger also appeared to struggle with the conditions in a 7-6 (7-2) 6-1 defeat to Jasmine Paolini as temperatures reached 34C with high humidity.
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Francisco Comensana was sick on the side of court against Reilly Opelka, whilst Carlos Alcaraz watched on, waiting to play in the next match
Argentine Francisco Comesana vomited but fought back to beat Reilly Opelka 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 7-5 to book a first Masters fourth round appearance of his career. He will play Andrey Rublev who produced a great comeback against Alexei Popyrin to win 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-5) 7-5.
USA’s Jessica Pegula takes on Poland’s Magda Linette and Ben Shelton takes on Roberto Bautista Agut in the standout overnight matches during the early hours of Wednesday.
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