Carlos Alcaraz stunned by Gael Monfils in US Open warm up

World No.3 Carlos Alcaraz has suffered a shock loss to 37-year-old Gael Monfils at the Cincinnati Open on Friday, losing his first match back since the Paris Olympics.

For Monfils, it is the Frenchman’s biggest win in more than two years, as he becomes the second-oldest man to defeat a top-three player this century.

The 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 loss means that Alcaraz will not overtake Novak Djokovic in the ATP rankings next week and will be either the third or fourth seed at the upcoming US Open.

Erratic tennis on show from Alcaraz

Alcaraz began well against Monfils, with the Frenchman having defeated Montreal champion Alexei Popyrin in round one.

The Spaniard won the opening set, his first competitive tennis match in 10 days since losing the Olympic gold medal match to Djokovic earlier this month.

However, with the second set partway through a tiebreak, rain forced a day’s delay to the contest.

It resumed on Friday morning in Cincinnati, from which point, it was all Monfils.

The former world No.6 quickly finished off the tiebreak – which he led 3-1 when play was suspended – levelling the match at a set apiece.

In the deciding set, he took advantage of some uncharacteristically poor tennis from his opponent.

Alcaraz hit three double faults in the third set, making just half of his first serves and spraying 10 unforced errors.

His usual domination from the baseline was nowhere to be seen, with the 21-year-old’s frustration boiling over in a rare racquet smash partway through the final set.

Alcaraz labels match worst of his career

After the loss, Alcaraz spoke candidly to reporters, confessing that the match was one of the worst he has ever played.

“It was really, really tough for me,” he said.

“I feel like it was the worst match that I have ever played in my career.

“[I] couldn’t play, honestly.

“I think it is impossible to get any good things about this match.”

Alcaraz shared that the court’s speed and bounce was different to what he expected, and it felt like he was “playing a different sport”.

“I’ve been practising really well in this tournament, the previous days I was feeling great, hitting the ball clear, moving well,” he explained.

“I came here feeling like I’m going to good.”

Odds remain stable for US Open

A positive for Alcaraz is that sandwiched between his French Open and Wimbledon titles this year, he suffered a similar shock first-round loss to Britain’s Jack Draper.

Top tennis bookmakers are confident that the Spaniard will have a comparable bounce-back this time as well.

Despite the early loss, Alcaraz’s odds to win the US Open have remained stable at Neds Bookmaker.

The world No.3 leads the betting at $2.37 for victory in New York. Djokovic ($2.87), Jannik Sinner ($3.25) and Daniil Medvedev ($6) round out the other contenders for the year’s final Grand Slam.

In other Cincinnati action, Sinner received a walkover into the quarter-finals courtesy of Aussie Jordan Thompson withdrawing injured.

Alexander Zverev, Ben Shelton and Andrey Rublev also joined the Italian in the quarter-finals with straight-set wins on Friday.

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