Carlos Alcaraz successfully defends Japan Open title in his first final since suffering wrist injury which forced him to miss French Open and Wimbledon; you can Carlos Alcaraz has won his first final since coming back from a long injury lay-off for a right wrist injury with success at the Japan Open. Alcaraz, who hadn’t played a showpiece since getting beat by Jannik Sinner at the Monte-Carlo Masters in April successfully defended the title he won last year in Tokyo defeating Jiri Lehecka 7-6 (7-4) 6-4. The Spaniard returned from injury in late August and made a run to the US Open quarter-finals, where he lost to Ben Shelton in a match that ended at 3:33am. Alcaraz was kept on his toes by Czech star Lehecka, but he did enough to earn his first tour-level trophy since Doha in February.
“It’s extra special to win a title again. It’s been a while,” said the 23-year-old Alcaraz, who is the first man to successfully defend his Japan Open title since Pete Sampras in 1994. “To win a trophy in my second tournament back is amazing. I didn’t find my best tennis all week, but I found the right solutions to win.
Today I played the best match of the entire tournament. I’m really happy.” Lehecka, ranked 19th, was sharper at the start and led 3-1 but Alcaraz, who has been wearing a compression sleeve on his right arm since his return, hit back to level at 3-3 and showed his full repertoire of crowd-pleasing shots in the tie-break, winning five points in a row from 2-4. He made his move in the seventh game of the second set with a break to lead 4-3 and looked delighted after clinching victory. Alcaraz began the season by winning his seventh major title to complete the career Grand Slam at the Australian Open and also lifted the trophy in his next tournament in Doha before his injury lay-off.
Wimbledon runner-up Karolina Muchova came through a thrilling fourth-round encounter at the WTA China Open, denying Naomi Osaka from a break down in both the first and third sets and eventually sealing her ninth match point to advance 7-5 1-6 7-6 (9-7) in a little under three hours. “I honestly didn’t even believe I will finish the match,” Muchova said in her on-court interview. “So many match points, I didn’t know how many. After a match point I was like, OK, I’m going for it, but then I think she always played great and steady, and didn’t make mistakes – unlike me, unfortunately!
I was shaking. I’m happy that I made the last volley and it was really so close. Naomi could be standing here. It’s me, and I’m really grateful for it.” Fourth seed Mirra Andreeva reached the quarter-finals of the WTA China Open with a straightforward win.
The 19-year-old Russian defeated Ukraine’s Daria Snigur 6-2 6-2 at Beijing’s National Tennis Center. Next up for Andreeva will be compatriot and 19th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova who is 12 years her senior. Stream tennis with no contract on NOW and the Sky Sports App. You can
Leave a Reply