Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz started with straight-set wins at the Six Kings Slam
The leaders in the world rankings Jannik Sinner (Italy) and Carlos Alcaraz (Spain) achieved victories in their first matches of the demonstration tournament “Six Kings of the Slam” in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia).
Jannik Sinner easily won against former world’s number one Daniil Medvedev (Russia) by 2-0 (6:0, 6:3) in just over an hour on court and will play with the Paris 2024 Olympic champion Novak Djokovic (Serbia).
Carlos Alcaraz defeated Holger Rune (Denmark) by 2-0 (6:4, 6:2) in 72 minutes and is looking forward to a match with his compatriot and doubles partner from the Paris 2024 Olympics, Rafael Nadal.
It will be Rafael Nadal’s first match since crashing out of the Paris 2024 Olympics in July and first since he announced last week that he would retire after playing for Spain in next month’s Davis Cup Final tournament. The Spaniard is the ambassador of the Saudi Arabian Tennis Federation.
After a day off on Friday, the winners of Thursday’s two games will face in the tournament final on Saturday.
Rafael Nadal has 22 Grand Slam titles, while Novak Djokovic has 24 Grand Slam titles, a record in the Open era. The two qualify directly for the semi-finals in Riyadh.
Jannik Sinner won his first two Grand Slam titles in 2024 at the Australian Open and the US Open, while Carlos Alcaraz has four, including two this year at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Daniil Medvedev won the 2021 US Open. Holger Rune is the only tennis player in the competition without a Grand Slam title and the only one not to have been ranked number one in the world.
Riyadh will host the WTA finals next month, and the kingdom continues to invest huge amounts in various sports despite concerns about LGBTQ+ and women’s rights there raised by Hall of Famers Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova and others.
