Tennis roundup: Alcaraz slumps to shock Buenos Aires loss, Sinner strolls into Rotterdam final

World number two Carlos Alcaraz slumped to a shock straight sets loss to Chile’s Nicolas Jarry in the semi-finals of the ATP Buenos Aires tournament on Saturday.

Defending champion Alcaraz, playing in his first tournament since losing in the Australian Open quarter-finals, was beaten 7-6 (7/2), 6-3 by his 28-year-old opponent.

Two-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz had been hoping to reach his first final since losing to Novak Djokovic in the Cincinnati Masters in August and clinch a first title since Wimbledon in July.

Jarry, ranked 21 in the world, claimed his first win over Alcaraz in three meetings, wrapping up victory on a second match point after almost two hours on court.

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“Third time lucky,” Jarry said of his first win over Alcaraz. “Carlos is one of the best players so it means a lot, especially after the battles I’ve had a couple of days ago. It’s been very tough physically, so I’m very happy to be able to come back.

“I didn’t start very well and couldn’t win points on his serve, but I came back little by little.”

The Chilean didn’t face a break point in the opening set and after the pair exchanged breaks in the first two games of the second set, Jarry claimed the decisive break in the eighth game.

Jarry will face Argentine wildcard Facundo Diaz Acosta, ranked 87, in Sunday’s final of the clay-court tournament.

Sinner strolls into Rotterdam final

Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner cruised into the Rotterdam Open final with a 6-2, 6-4 win over local hero Tallon Griekspoor on Saturday, extending his stunning unbeaten run to 14 matches.

Sinner booked a final with Alex de Minaur from Australia, who said he played one of his best-ever matches after overcoming Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov in a pulsating semi-final.

“It feels great to be back again in the final. It was a really tough match,” said Sinner.

The top-seeded Italian, who would rise to a career-high world number three if he lifts the title in Rotterdam, got off to a flying start, breaking the Griekspoor serve in the first game.

Griekspoor was hoping to avenge a semi-final defeat at his home tournament last year, also at the hands of Sinner.

But the 22-year-old Italian had too much consistency and depth of shot for the Dutchman, who has never before beaten a top-five player, closing out the first set.

Sinner saved two break points early in the second set, as Griekspoor failed to capitalise on a double-fault and a missed drop shot – rare errors from the Italian racket.

He saved another two in his next service game with an emphatic ace and more Griekspoor errors, the Dutchman venting his frustration by slamming down his racket.

The missed opportunities seemed to demoralise him and he gifted Sinner a break of his own to love at 4-4 with a double-fault.

Sinner served out the next game to take the match and set up his meeting with de Minaur, who has never beaten him.

“It doesn’t really matter what’s happened in the past,” said the Italian.

“I saw him play today. He played really, really good. I hope I can also play some good tennis tomorrow.”

‘Basically flawless’

Earlier Saturday, de Minaur celebrated his 25th birthday in style, powering into the final with a straight-sets win over Dimitrov in a high-quality match.

The 6-4, 6-3 victory will take De Minaur to a career-high number nine in the world rankings – his first time in the top 10.

It was deja vu for the Australian – he also spent his 24th birthday in Rotterdam playing Dimitrov.

Last year, de Minaur squandered two match points to crash out in the quarters. This time, he started quickly, breaking Dimitrov’s first service game to love.

De Minaur retrieved impressively and made few unforced errors, holding his serve despite constant Dimitrov pressure and eventually taking an entertaining first set 6-4.

In the second set, Dimitrov again failed to hold his first service game, handing the initiative immediately to the Australian.

The Rotterdam crowd was treated to some spectacular rallies as De Minaur found answers to everything Dimitrov threw at him, closing out the second set 6-3.

“I feel amazing. This year was a better birthday than I had last year,” he said after the match.

“Grigor is so talented, such a good player. Today I had to be basically flawless to get the win over him. On to the final, so happy days.”

“I think this was pretty well my best match on tour.”

Fritz to face Paul in bid for back-to-back ATP Delray Beach titles

Top-seeded defending champion Taylor Fritz ousted fellow American Marcos Giron 7-6 (10/8), 6-2 on Saturday to reach the ATP Delray Beach Open final, where he will face compatriot Tommy Paul.

Tennis world number nine Fritz needed one hour and 48 minutes to book his spot in Sunday’s championship match against Paul, who ousted American Frances Tiafoe 6-2, 6-2 in the other semi-final.

Paul, ranked 14th, won his second career ATP title last week at Dallas and has matched his best ATP career win streak at seven. His other crown came in 2021 at Stockholm.

Fritz seeks his seventh career ATP title and will try to extend his win streak in ATP finals to six in a row.

After taking his first title at Eastbourne in 2019, Fritz lost his next four finals but since St. Petersburg in 2021 has won titles at Indian Wells, Eastbourne and Tokyo in 2022 and Delray Beach and Atlanta last year.

Paul pulled level at 2-2 in his ATP career rivalry with Fritz with a victory in their most recent meeting at last year’s Acapulco semi-finals.

Fritz blasted 10 aces past Giron in improving to 4-1 against the world number 52.