Tokyo [Japan], October 5: Top seed Carlos Alcaraz required only 83 minutes on court before he booked a place in the Japan Open semi-finals after Denis Shapovalov retired on Sunday.
Defending champion Alcaraz only recently returned from a four-month lay-off with a wrist injury and had encountered difficult moments during his run to the last eight in Tokyo.
Shapovalov proved another tough test with Alcaraz forced to win a third consecutive first set on a tie-break but his Canadian rival suffered a problem at the start of the second set and had to retire with the score 7-6 (7-3), 2-1 to the Spaniard.
This was only the ninth singles' match played by world number three Alcaraz since his wrist issue and he immediately encountered difficulties against
Shapovalov, who broke to go 4-2 up.
Alcaraz responded immediately but four further breaks in the first set followed - with Shapovalov unable to serve out at 5-3 up - and the seven-time grand-slam winner showed his class in the tie-break before a close contest ended abruptly.
Source: Qatar Tribune
