Former World No.1 and 2024 French Open champion Carlos Alcaraz made a successful return at the Queens Club Championship, defeating Francisco Cerundolo in straight sets in his first grass-court match since his Roland Garros victory earlier this month.
The Spanish World No.2, who claimed his third title at the French Open, wasn't at his peak performance during his first grass match of 2024 but managed to overcome Cerundolo 6-1, 7-5, advancing to the second round.
“The first match in any tournament is never easy but even more difficult here on grass, starting the grass season,” Alcaraz stated, as reported by the ATP Tour.
“You want to do a good result and have to deal with a lot of expectations that you put on yourself. I am really happy with the match and it was a good test, playing with Francisco. It was close in the second set. It is good to have tough situations. Having to deal with nerves,” he said.
Alcaraz, the defending champion of this ATP 500 event, had dropped just one set on his way to the title last season. The 21-year-old continued his momentum by winning Wimbledon. The top seed started strong in his first head-to-head match, then impressively rallied to save three set points on serve at 4-5 before clinching victory, extending his grass-court winning streak to 13 matches.
He will face either Stuttgart champion Jack Draper or Argentine Mariano Navone following his 82-minute win.
In other matches, Lorenzo Musetti upset second seed Alex de Minaur 1-6, 6-4, 6-2. De Minaur, competing at a career-high No. 7 in the ATP Rankings after his title win in ‘s-Hertogenbosch last week, saw his 13-match winning streak against Top 10 opponents snapped. Musetti will next play against either Daniel Evans or Brandon Nakashima.
Former Wimbledon quarterfinalist Taylor Fritz defeated Taro Daniel 6-3, 6-3, while Sebastian Korda continued his strong grass-court performance by beating Karen Khachanov 7-5, 7-6(5). Korda recently reached the final at the ATP 250 event in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. Italian Matteo Arnaldi eliminated 2021 Halle champion Ugo Humbert 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(6), saving one match point.
The match between Alejandro Tabilo and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina was suspended on Monday night at the start of the third set. Tabilo returned to secure a 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-1 win.
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