Wimbledon 2022: Alcaraz survives five-set thriller, Andy Murray rallies past Duckworth

London: Teenager Carlos Alcaraz won his Wimbledon opener in thrilling five sets on Monday evening. The 19-year-old survived scare to reach the second round at The Championships for the second time. In a tight battle on Court 1, the Spaniard rode out an attacking bombardment from Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff to advance 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(3), […]

London: Teenager Carlos Alcaraz won his Wimbledon opener in thrilling five sets on Monday evening.

The 19-year-old survived scare to reach the second round at The Championships for the second time. In a tight battle on Court 1, the Spaniard rode out an attacking bombardment from Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff to advance 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-4 after a tense four hours and 11 minutes.

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Alcaraz was the youngest to line up among his 127 fellow contenders at The Championships this fortnight. Competing for the second time at Wimbledon, Alcaraz raised his intensity and dug his heels in as he scampered around the baseline to hang in points, while he found moments of magic in the key moments to improve his five-set record to 5-1. Alcaraz will next play Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor or Fabio Fognini as he aims to reach the third round at SW19 for the first time. After a slow start on Centre Court, former world no. 1 Andy Murray rallied past James Duckworth 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 to advance at Wimbledon.

The Scot will next play 20th seed John Isner, against whom he owns an 8-0 head-to-head record. Elsewhere, Jannik Sinner scored a pair of firsts at Wimbledon with his 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 first-round victory against Stan Wawrinka. The 20-year-old Italian earned his first win in his second Wimbledon main-draw appearance, with the victory doubling as his first tour-level victory on grass.

After both men traded crushing baseline blows throughout two tight sets, Sinner’s agility and consistency proved the difference in the third and fourth sets as the 10th seed ran out a comfortable winner. The Italian finished with 42 winners to 33 errors and improved his court coverage throughout the match despite a few slips. Wawrinka looked to step into the court often, but even when he did gain a positional advantage, Sinner’s persistent retrieving allowed the Italian to keep his footing in the points.

Box Berrettini out with Covid-19 Matteo Berrettini, last year’s runner-up at Wimbledon, dropped out of the grass-court Grand Slam tournament hours before he was scheduled to play his first-round match Tuesday, saying that he tested positive for Covid-19.

The All England Club announced Berrettini’s withdrawal, and he posted about it on Instagram, saying that he was “heartbroken” and has been isolating “the last few days” after experiencing flu-like symptoms. He’s the second high-profile player to pull out of the draw within the first two days because of the illness caused by the coronavirus, joining 2014 US Open champion and 2017 Wimbledon finalist Marin Cilic.

After being cancelled in 2020 because of the pandemic, then setting up a bubble-type environment and restricting attendance in 2021 to try to prevent the spread of Covid-19, Wimbledon has returned to normal in every way, with no mask-wearing requirement, full crowds and the famous Queue back in action. “Despite symptoms not being severe, I decided it was important to take another test this morning to protect the health and safety of my fellow competitors and everyone else involved in the tournament,” Berrettini wrote in his post, which included a black-and-white photo of him hitting a serve at Wimbledon.