Rain halts Alcaraz; Gauff ousted

CINCINNATI (AFP) — Carlos Alcaraz was halted by rain on the brink of victory Thursday while defending women’s champion Coco Gauff crashed out in her first match at the ATP and WTA Cincinnati Open.

Spaniard Alcaraz, the reigning Wimbledon and French Open champion, led France’s Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-6 (1/3) when rain halted play at the last major tuneup for the US Open, which starts on 26 August.

Top seed Alcaraz, who lost to Novak Djokovic in last year’s Cincinnati final, took a silver medal at the Paris Olympics, also dropping that final to Djokovic.

Alcaraz is back on hardcourt for the first time since winning at Miami. He skipped last week’s ATP Montreal Masters.

Gauff was eliminated earlier in a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 upset loss to Kazakh spoiler Yulia Putintseva.

A disappointed Gauff will go back to the drawing board before defending her US Open crown.

Putintseva, ranked 34th, has made a recent habit of upsets, knocking off top-ranked Iga Swiatek barely a month ago at Wimbledon.

“I’m really proud of myself,” Putintseva said.

“These courts are so fast, you have to just play on instinct. That’s what I did.”

Gauff became Cincinnati’s youngest champion a year ago at age 19 and carried that success into her first Grand Slam triumph at the US Open.

Putintseva will next face Spain’s Paula Badosa, who defeated Anna Kalinskaya 6-3, 6-2.

Third seed Aryna Sabalenka polished her opening-match record at the event by defeating Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-3, 6-4.

Men’s third seed Alexander Zverev, the 2021 champion from Germany, won his ATP-leading 50th match this season. The German dispatched Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-2 in a repeat of his Tokyo Olympic final win.