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Top seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain beat Arthur Rinderknech of France 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 in the first round of the Queen’s Club Championships in London on Tuesday, June 20. The match was a really well-contested one and went on for around three hours.
However, the 20-year-old Spaniard was good enough to prevail in the end, ending the Rinderknech’s stiff resistance ultimately. Alcaraz will take on Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic in the second round on Thursday.
On that note, let us take a look at two things that stood out in the match.
#1 Arthur Rinderknech tried serve-and-volley repeatedly
Rinderknech opted for serve-and-volley repeatedly throughout the match. The big Frenchman does not have a particularly big serve but kept rushing to the net repeatedly to hit winners with volleys and overhead smashes.
However, that tactic often proved to be counter-productive as well, as Carlos Alcaraz managed to pass him a few times. Alcaraz also managed to hit a few return winners past an onrushing Rinderknech to win a few points.
Still, the Frenchman managed to break the Spaniard once and did enough with serve and volleying to keep holding his serve. He thus managed to win the first set to stun his more fancied opponent.
#2 Carlos Alcaraz bounced back with an exceptional resolve to grind out a win
Hinderknech broke Alcaraz in the second game of the third set to have a vice-like grip on the match. However, the Spaniard, who is known for his grit and resolve, broke back in the subsequent game to draw level.
Prior to that, Alcaraz broke the Frenchman once to win the second set. The Spaniard moved his opponent from side to side with his angular shots as the latter faced difficulty in covering the width of the baseline.
In the final set, Hinderknech did not rush to the net as frequently as he had done in the first two and tried to contend with the Spaniard from the baseline.
Alcaraz started playing drop shots more frequently as the match progressed and won a few points. Still, it finally boiled down to playing well during key moments as the final set went into a tie-break.
Alcaraz proved to be superior in that respect and raced through the tie-break to win the match. The Spaniard will start as the favourite against Lehecka as well and remains in contention to win the title before the start of Wimbledon in the first week of July.
