Carlos Alcaraz advanced to the semi-finals of the Japan Open with a commanding 6-2, 6-4 win against Brandon Nakashima in Tokyo.
The Spanish top seed hit 39 winners and faced no break points as he easily defeated his American opponent, alleviating any concerns about an ankle injury he suffered in the first round.
The world number one will take on Norwegian fourth seed Casper Ruud in the semi-finals on Monday, aiming for his eighth ATP title in what has been an incredible season.
“I think I just played unbelievably today, I’m not going to lie,” Alcaraz remarked. “I felt like I could do everything on the court, executing every shot.”
In other news, Coco Gauff navigated through some serving issues to narrowly defeat Leylah Fernandez in the third round of the China Open in Beijing.
Gauff is set to face Swiss 15th seed Belinda Bencic in the round of 16 of the WTA 1000 event on Tuesday.
Great Britain’s Emma Raducanu will compete against American fifth seed Jessica Pegula in one of the highlights of Monday’s third-round matches, while Sonay Kartal will take on rising Australian teen Maya Joint.
Alcaraz is the strong favorite to secure his fourth hard court title of the year in Japan, having previously won in Rotterdam, at the Cincinnati Masters, and at the US Open earlier this month.
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The 22-year-old, a six-time Grand Slam champion, has also claimed three titles on clay—at Monte Carlo, Rome, and the French Open at Roland Garros—and one on grass at Queen’s.
Three of the top four seeds remain in contention for the semi-finals in Tokyo, with third seed Holgar Rune being the only notable upset in the quarter-finals.
Denmark’s Rune lost 6-3, 6-3 to 24-year-old American Jenson Brooksby, who is expected to rise from 86th to at least 57th in the world rankings after his impressive performance in Tokyo.
Brooksby will face fellow American Taylor Fritz, who advanced to the semi-finals with a 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 victory over another American, Sebastian Korda.
Ruud will meet Alcaraz after defeating Australian qualifier Aleksandar Vukic 6-3, 6-2.
Coco Gauff, who has won 10 WTA titles, including the China Open in 2024, faced a challenging third-round match at the China Open. She stated, “I did what I needed to do to win” against Fernandez.
Gauff ultimately triumphed in a tightly contested three-set match—6-4, 4-6, 7-5—despite the serving issues that had previously caused her distress at the US Open.
The 21-year-old two-time Grand Slam champion recorded nine double faults and was broken seven times during the match.
Both players struggled with their serves, resulting in a total of 15 breaks, including eight in the final set—three on Gauff’s serve and five on Fernandez’s.
Gauff served twice for the match while leading 5-2 but was broken both times by the Canadian world number 25.
However, she regained her composure at 5-5, broke back immediately, and ultimately closed out the match on her second match point.
“It was very physical; we were going back and forth,” Gauff reflected.
