Top seed Carlos Alcaraz cantered into the third round at Wimbledon with a 6-4, 7-6(2), 6-3 win over 84th-ranked Alexandre Muller on Friday, putting on an entertaining if error-strewn performance for an appreciative Centre Court crowd.
Frenchman Muller, 26, who has spent most of his professional career on the second-tier challenger circuit, took advantage of his 20-year-old opponent producing an uncharacteristic number of unforced errors, 41 in all.
But the smiling young Spaniard’s all-round game, a mixture of power and exquisite touch tennis, was just too strong for the 84th-ranked Muller.
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After breaking serve in the seventh game, Alcaraz won the first set on his fourth set point with a big serve.
He raced into a 6-0 lead in the second-set tiebreak before conceding a couple of points then winning it with a glorious half-volley.
Alcaraz, who made it to the fourth round at Wimbledon last year, produced a searing passing shot to break serve in the ninth game of the final set and wrapped up the match on his own serve with a forehand winner.
Sinner shrugs off slow start to reach last 16
Last year’s Wimbledon quarterfinalist Jannik Sinner recovered from a sluggish start to beat unseeded Frenchman Quentin Halys 3-6,6-2, 6-3, 6-4 on Friday and move into the fourth round.
Sinner became only the third Italian man to make the round of 16 at Wimbledon on multiple occasions after Nicola Pietrangeli and Matteo Berrettini, but the 21-year-old was tested by Halys who landed the first blow.
Halys, who entered the Championships without playing a warm-up tournament on grass, pounced on the eighth seed in the first set and surged into a 4-1 lead before taking the early advantage on the back of solid serving.
Sinner responded almost immediately, however, with a break in the second set and forced world number 79 Halys, who sported heavy strapping on his thigh and calf, to work hard during points with deft shots at the net.
The slender Italian, who has reached the quarter-finals of all the four majors, comfortably drew level at one set apiece and barely put a foot wrong to ease through the next in 29 minutes.
The duo traded breaks early in the fourth set before Sinner regained focus to seal victory and he will next play Colombian Daniel Elahi Galan or Swede Mikael Ymer.
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