A bumper day of action on the ATP and WTA Tours at the China Open and Japan Open saw Carlos Alcaraz and Brits Harriet Dart and Sonay Kartal win. But there were defeats for Cam Norrie and Arthur Fery. Alcaraz saved three set points before clinching a see-sawing opening set against American Alex Michelsen with a strong display in the tiebreak but continued to experiment with his new sped-up service motion and was broken twice early in the next set.
The 23-year-old Spaniard, who had shown glimpses of his best form en route to the US Open quarter-finals last month after his long injury layoff, recovered to move ahead but a double fault in the seventh game handed Michelsen a route back. Michelsen capitalised and kept his composure in a tense finish to the second set where a fortunate netcord winner left Alcaraz stranded at the baseline and helped the 22-year-old American force a decider. Alcaraz, who led Team Europe to a Laver Cup triumph over Team World on indoor courts in London last weekend, said the relentless rain in Tokyo limited his practice.
"It was a different feeling. The court performs a little bit slower than the indoor courts for sure, so it was freaky to adjust to that," Alcaraz said. "It was a little bit frustrating, not being able to play my game, my style, and play aggressive ... it was difficult but I'm really happy to accept and understand how I had to play and to get the win at the end.
"It was really important to have this feeling for the next round, to know what I have to do for the next matches." A couple of breathtaking points gave Alcaraz a 2-0 lead in the final set and the seven-times Grand Slam champion used the launch pad to close out a comfortable victory on a day of big upsets in the ATP 500 tournament. The top seed's win came after third seed Taylor Fritz fell to qualifier Jaume Munar 6-7 (7-9) 6-4 6-3, sixth seed Casper Ruud lost to Luciano Darderi 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 and seventh seed Tommy Paul suffered a 6-1 6-2 defeat by Alejandro Tabilo. Holger Rune, the former world No 4 who is stepping up his comeback from an Achilles injury, also crashed out in a 6-3 6-1 loss to Kyrian Jacquet.
Norrie was beaten 7-6 (7-1) 6-4 by newly-crowned US Open champion Alexander Zverev in the first round of the China Open in Beijing. The Briton blew a set point opportunity then collapsed in the subsequent tie-break after taking the first point. Zverev, who is intent on closing in on world No 1 Jannik Sinner, who is not playing in China, grabbed the crucial break in the ninth game of the second set before sealing his victory.
It was Zverev's ninth consecutive main tour victory over Norrie, who was playing his first match since his disappointing early exit at Flushing Meadows. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player British No 1 Fery was bundled out of the Japan Open in the first round with a shock 4-6 6-3 4-6 loss to Portugal's Jaime Faria. Fery was originally scheduled to open the tournament against Italy's Lorenzo Musetti, but the world No 25 was a late withdrawal from the tournament due to a finger injury.
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