BASEL, Switzerland – Top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz rallied to beat Jack Draper 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the first round of the Swiss Indoors in Basel.
Spain’s Alcaraz clinched with his third match-point chance, firing a forehand winner when following in a strong serve that left-hander Draper stretched to return.
The first Basel tournament since before the COVID-19 pandemic was intended to be Roger Federer´s hometown comeback on tour. But the Swiss great ended his career last month because of a persistent knee injury.
The 19-year-old Alcaraz and 20-year-old Draper had a combined age of less than Federer´s 41 years, and both were playing for the first time at Basel where he won a record 10 titles from 2006-19.
The 45th-ranked British player broke Alcaraz´s service twice and made just three unforced errors in the first set.
“In the beginning of the match it was tough,” Alcaraz said. “I did a lot of mistakes in the beginning. I wanted to play really aggressive on this court. For me, it’s a bit slower than the other tournaments. But obviously I had to handle that, I had to work on my problems and change my tactics a little bit in the second set.
“I knew that Jack is playing great. He is a really dangerous player and I really had to be focused and, of course, never give up.”
Elsewhere, Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff are the first pair of US women both in the top four spots of the WTA rankings since sisters Serena and Venus Williams were up there in 2010.
Pegula rose two places to a career-best No., after winning the biggest title of her career at the Guadalajara Open in Mexico.
Gauff, who lost in the quarter-finals at that tournament, moved up from No. 7 to No. 4.
The last time two Americans were that high in the women´s tennis rankings was the week of Oct. 18, 2010, when Serena Williams was No. 2 and Venus Williams was No. 4. Both of the siblings already had been No. 1 prior to that.
Pegula is a 28-year-old from New York; her parents own the NFL´s Buffalo Bills and NHL´s Buffalo Sabres. She reached the quarter-finals at three of this year´s four Grand Slam tournaments before losing to the eventual champion and No. 1 seed each time: Ash Barty at the Australian Open, and Iga Swiatek at the French Open and US Open.
Gauff is an 18-year-old from Florida who was the runner-up to Swiatek at Roland Garros and made it to the quarterfinals at the US Open.
The two of them are doubles partners and in the top four in that discipline, too: Gauff is ranked No. 2, Pegula No. 3.
Swiatek maintained her hold on No. 1 in the singles rankings, followed by No. 2 Ons Jabeur, who was the runner-up at Wimbledon and the US Open.
In addition to that quartet atop the rankings, the other four women who qualified in singles for the WTA Finals, which are in Fort Worth, Texas, from Oct. 31 to Nov. 7 are Caroline Garcia, Aryna Sabalenka, Daria Kasatkina and Maria Sakkari.
There were no changes in the top eight places in the ATP men´s rankings, with Carlos Alcaraz retaining the No. 1 spot he earned by winning his first Grand Slam title at the US Open last month.
He´s followed by 23-time major champion Rafael Nadal at No. 2, with Nos. 3-8 still Casper Ruud, Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, Novak Djokovic and Andrey Rublev.
Felix Auger-Aliassime´s title at Antwerp, Belgium – his second trophy in a row – allowed him to move up from No. 10 to No. 9, swapping places with Taylor Fritz.
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