Alcaraz’s win makes it record 30 seeds in men’s 2nd round
straight sets in night matches on Rod Laver Arena on Day 3, and Pegula finished off the Margaret Court Arena program to make show-court deadline by 10 minutes.
Wimbledon champion Alcaraz’s 7-6 (5), 6-1, 6-2 win over 37-year-old Richard Gasquet and Olympic champion Alexander Zverev ’s 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-3 victory over Dominik Koepfer meant a record 30 seeds advanced to the men’s second round.
Sumit Nagal prevented it from being 31. He became the first Indian male to beat a seeded player at a Grand Slam event since 1989 with a 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (5) triumph over No. 31 Alexander Bublik.
“The tour has great players, a lot of them that can beat anyone,” Alcaraz said. “So I think it’s really, really open. But, 30 from 32, I think they deserve it.”
His opinion on the threeday first-round format?
“It’s better for the players ... better for everyone,” the 20-year-old Alcaraz said. “For the crowd to have more days to have matches, for the tournament as well.”
The fifth-seeded Pegula started her day watching TV coverage of the Buffalo Bills beating the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-17 in an AFC wild-card playoff.
She finished it by beating Canadian qualifier Rebecca Marino 6-2, 6-4, and acknowledged some Buffalo fans in the crowd holding up “Billieve” signs.
Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. Walsh Gymnasium in South Orange, N.J.
UConn (14-3, 6-0 Big East) Seton Hall (11-6, 3-3)
SNY
UConn Sports Network, WAVZ-New Haven (1300 AM), WGCHGreenwich (1490 AM), WATR-Waterbury (1320 AM), WICH-Norwich (1310 AM, 94.5 FM), WILI-Willimantic (1400 AM, 95.3 FM), Fox Sports 97.9 FM Hartford, SiriusXM-983, SXM App 973, The River 105.9 pace with USC, including outscoring the Trojans in the last three quarters, yet ultimately lost 64-54.
Seton Hall is 1-3 against ranked teams this season. The Pirates lost in double overtime to then-No. 25 Princeton, 75-71 on Nov. 29 and beat then-No. 23 UNLV 84-54 on Dec. 16.
Most recently, the Pirates beat Xavier in Cincinnati, 61-47, on Saturday after losing against then-No. 23 Marquette 75-54 last Tuesday.
Four Connecticut natives are on Seton Hall’s roster this season: freshman forward Sydnee Eggleton (Thomaston), freshman forward Joniyah Bland-Fitzpatrick (New London), sophomore guard/forward Shailyn Pinkney (East Hartford) and graduate forward I’yanna Lops (Stamford).
Lops, 6-foot-3, joined the Pirates this season after transferring from St. Bonaventure. She played her freshman year at Cal State Bakersfield before playing three years at St. Bonaventure.
Graduate student forward/guard Azana Baines leads Seton Hall with 15.4 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Baines was named as an Honorable Mention selection to the Preseason All-Big East Team this fall. The New Jersey native is also a two-time transfer with previous stops at Virginia Tech (2020-21) and Duke (2019-20).
UConn leads the all-time series with Seton Hall 57-10. The Pirates’ last win over the Huskies was on Jan. 5, 1994, upsetting then-No. 8 UConn 74-58 in South Orange. Head coach Anthony Bozzella is in his 10th season coaching the Pirates.