World number three and Wimbledon men’s singles champion Carlos Alcaraz let his emotions get the better of him at the Cincinnati Open, the final ATP event before the US Open in New York.
Alcaraz’s match against Gael Monfils had been delayed after rain lashed southern Ohio on Thursday, but resumed Friday afternoon.
After winning the first set 6-4, Alcaraz lost the second set tiebreak to force a decisive third set.
Down 2-1 in the final set, Monfils held serve, prompting Alcaraz to fly into a rage and smash his racket into the court several times.
That was a code violation for racket abuse and served as a point in the match from which the Spaniard could not recover.
Carlos Alcaraz smashes his racket during his match against Frenchman Gael Monfils
This was the ninth time in Monfils’ career that he was able to defeat a top-three opponent.
In the end, unseeded Monfils defeated second-seeded Alcaraz 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4.
World No. 46 Monfils defeated a top-three opponent for the ninth time in his career, most recently a win over then-No. 1 Daniil Medvedev in March 2022 in Indian Wells, California.
Until Friday, he had not beaten the 21-year-old Alcaraz, who won the French Open and Wimbledon this year and earned a silver medal at the Paris Olympics earlier this month. Alcaraz had lost just seven matches this year.
Monfils did not let Alcaraz’s overnight advantage stop him from cruising to victory. He finished with 15 aces and 30 winners to offset 35 unforced errors and 12 double faults in windy conditions.
Neither player had much success breaking serve, with Monfils converting 1 of 8 and Alcaraz 1 of 7.
When Monfils won the match that lasted two hours and 30 minutes (over two days), he became the second-oldest player to beat a top-three opponent this century. Roger Federer, at 38, defeated world No. 2 Novak Djokovic at the Nitto ATP Finals in 2019.
Monfils was not done for the day as the delay meant he was scheduled to face 15th seed Holger Rune of Denmark in the third round.
