Olympic Games—Paris, France
Alcaraz Advances to Olympic Semifinals; Swiatek Ousted by Zheng
Reigning Wimbledon and French Open winner Carlos Alcaraz advanced to the semifinals of the Olympic Games on Thursday, defeating American Tommy Paul 6-3, 7-6(7).
Needing two hours and one minute to advance, Alcaraz slammed 22 winners, hit six aces and broke serve on two occasions.
The Spaniard, who is trying to become the youngest winner of the Olympic Gold Medal, will next face Felix Auger-Aliassime.
The Canadian defeated No. 6 seed Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-7(8), 6-3.
Elsewhere, defending Gold Medal winner Alexander Zverev was defeated by Lorenzo Musetti 7-5, 7-5.
Musetti, who has been in a rich form since the grass-court season, will next face either top seed Novak Djokovic or No. 8 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Women’s top seed Iga Swiatek was given a heart-breaking loss in the semifinals of the event, losing in straight sets to No. 6 seed Qinwen Zheng 6-2, 7-5.
In a match that lasted one hour and 51 minutes, Zheng hit 15 winners, six aces and broke the serve of her Polish opponent on six occasions.
Swiatek, who was the overwhelming favourite to win the Gold Medal, will now set her sights on playing for a Bronze Medal.
Zheng will face either Anna-Karolina Schmiedlova or No. 13 seed Donna Vekic in the finals.
Shapovalov Reaches Washington Quarterfinals
Former top 10 player Denis Shapovalov advanced to the quarterfinals of the Mubadala Citi DC Open on Thursday, defeating No. 12 seed Miomir Kecmanovic 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Shapovalov hit eight aces, 35 winners and a top serve speed of 213 KPH.
The Canadian will next face either No. 2 see Ben Shelton or Brandon Nakashima.
Other results on the day saw Flavio Cobolli oust No. 8 seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 1-6, 7-6(0), 7-6(7) in three hours and 14 minutes.
Still to come on Thursday, Victoria Azarenka, Ons Jabeur and Frances Tiafoe will be featured.
As always, check back for daily updates on TennisConnected for all your previews and reviews from this week on Tour.
Stream all the action live this week from the Olympic Tennis event right here.
