Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner in Action in Japan Open and China Open (pictures via Getty Images) World number one Carlos Alcaraz advanced on Thursday to the second round of Japan, but was left after turning the ankle during the victory 6-4, 6-2 over Argentine Sebastian Baez.The US Open champion fell embarrassingly while chasing the ball in the opening set and needing a medical time limit. Before he continued, his left ankle was strapped. Although he managed to recover and move freely, Alcaraz admitted that the injury could affect the rest of his campaign.“If it can affect the rest of the tournament, I don’t know,” Alcaraz said after the match, as AFP quoted. “It will be an important day and a half that I have for me before the next match. We’ll see what happens. I will do everything in good shape and ready to play in the next round.”The Spaniard, who played his first Tokyo tournament, said Friday worried him initially. “I was afraid, because the first minutes of playing, my ankle didn’t feel good at all. But after all I started to feel a little better. I could go to the bench, which was a relief for me,” he explained.
Alcaraz will face the Belgian Ziza Bergs in the second round on Saturday.Meanwhile in Beijing, the world number two Jannik Sinner called his return to the event with a dominant victory of 6-2, 6-2 over the Croatian Marin Cilic at China Open. The Italian, who lost the US Open final at the beginning of this month, said he was pleased to compete again.“We did a lot of work to return in this position, so I’m very happy,” Sinner said. “I missed the competition. Of course you are nervous, you have doubts and it’s normal … But you have to be excited that you can go again in court. At the moment I feel great physically and mentally, which is most important.”
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The 24 -year -old added that Breaking Cilic gave him confidence at the beginning of the match. “Great respect for him. I managed to break it quite early, which then gave me confidence to continue,” Sinner said.Furthermore, Sinner is facing the French Terence Atmane in the second round when it offers a third direct final look in Beijing.
