Andrea Arnaldi Fails to Pull Off the Feat and Secure the Win for Jannik Sinner
Matteo Arnaldi’s run at the ATP 500 tournament in Tokyo came to an end in the round of 16 against Carlos Alcaraz. After an extremely close first set—in which the Sanremo native gave his opponent more than a few headaches despite losing in a tiebreak—the Murcia native dominated the second set, keeping himself in contention to defend the title he won in the Japanese capital in 2025.
Arnaldi was thus unable to pull off the upset; in the first set, he came back from an initial 0-2 deficit and, during the tiebreak, even had four opportunities to close out the set in his favor, leading 6-2. However, a 6-0 run proved decisive for the current world No. 3, who must replicate his 2025 success in this tournament to avoid losing ranking points to Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev.
The second set was a one-sided affair dominated by Alcaraz, who won the first five games without much difficulty, conceding only one to the Italian. The match thus concluded in one hour and forty-six minutes: the first set lasted one hour and fourteen minutes, while the second took thirty-two minutes. In the quarterfinals, Alcaraz will face Denis Shapovalov, who defeated Alejandro Tabilo in three sets.
As for Arnaldi, he continues to navigate a difficult stretch of his season, which peaked at Roland Garros when he reached the semifinals before withdrawing due to the flu just a few hours before his match against Flavio Cobolli. Since then, Arnaldi has won two consecutive matches on only one occasion—in the Eastbourne qualifiers—for an overall record, from mid-June onward, of five wins and seven losses on the main tour.
