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Grigor Dimitrov and Andrey Rublev cashed in on a ruthlessly efficient performance on return to advance to the second round of the Western & Southern Open on Wednesday. The singles stars edged Daniel Evans and John Peers 7-6(5), 7-5, converting on all three of their break chances and winning 86 per cent of their first-serve points. 

Despite failing to serve out the opening set, losing a deciding point at 5-4, the duo regrouped to win the tie-break by taking its final three points. They were again denied on a deciding point in their first attempt to serve out the match at 5-4 in the second set, but responded with an immediate break back before serving out the win to love.

The pair will next face second seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos, who received a bye into the second round.

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Holger Rune and Stefanos Tsitsipas also advanced, taking a 6-2, 6-3 decision against David Vega Hernandez and Rafael Matos. Sixth seeds Tim Puetz and Michael Venus join them in the second round after a 6-2, 6-1 win against the Argentine pairing of Francisco Cerundolo and Diego Schwartzman.

Borna Coric picked up his fifth tour-level win since his March return from shoulder surgery on Wednesday at the Western & Southern Open. But with this one, the former World No. 12 announced that he is back at his best.

The Croatian edged Rafael Nadal 7-6(9), 4-6, 6-3 to advance to the third round in Cincinnati, battling for two hours, 51 minutes to secure his biggest win of the season by both opponent and stage. After taking a dramatic first-set tie-break in which both players saved two set points, Coric scored his first break of the match midway through the decider as he dictated play in the final set.

"It has been very, very special," Coric said of his win on centre court. "I was out for the last two years and I didn't play on the big stage in front of the crowd and everybody. I was honestly just looking forward to playing this match as I haven't had that in the last two years. Now that I won, it's kind of crazy."

Nadal's defeat ends his bid for a return to the top spot in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings this week. The World No. 3 will have another chance to leapfrog Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev at the US Open.

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Dominic Thiem was awarded a main draw wild card into the US Open, the tournament announced on Wednesday.

The Austrian captured his first Grand Slam title at the US Open in 2020 and owns a 22-6 record at the season’s final major.

The former No. 3 player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings is working his way back from a wrist injury, which prevented him from defending his title at Flushing Meadows last year.

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Also receiving wild cards into the main draw were Americans Sam Querrey, Emilio Nava, JJ Wolf, Ben Shelton and Learner Tien, as well as Frenchman Ugo Humbert and Australian Rinky Hijikata.

Stefanos Tsitsipas put an emphatic end to a two-match losing streak with a strong opening performance on Wednesday at the Western & Southern Open. The Cincinnati fourth seed rode a dominant serving performance and clean hitting to a 6-3, 6-3 win against Filip Krajinovic to earn his first victory in two events since Wimbledon.

The Greek was downed by Nick Kyrgios in a memorable third-round encounter on the London lawns and fell victim to an upset bid from #NextGenATP Briton Jack Draper last week in Montreal. But after two tough holds to open his Cincinnati campaign, he found a groove on serve and off the ground to power past Krajinovic behind two mid-set breaks.

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Tsitsipas scored six love service holds, including each of his final four service games, and dropped just three points on first serve in the one-hour, nine minute match. He finished with a pristine 92 per cent (34/37) win rate on first serve while making 76 per cent of his first deliveries. In a clean match all around, the Greek hit 28 winners (including 14 aces) to just four unforced errors as he outclassed his opponent on Court 3.

The two-time Cincinnati semi-finalist also excelled in the INSIGHTS: Conversion metric, which shows that he won 81 per cent (17/21) of points in which he gained an attacking advantage against Krajinovic. Conversely, he also had a big edge in the Steal metric, winning 29 per cent of points from defence to his opponent's 19 per cent.

John Isner was one point from winning the first set of his second-round match at the Western & Southern Open on Wednesday against eighth seed Hubert Hurkacz when he heard murmurs in the crowd. Naturally, the American turned around.

At 6/3 in the tie-break, Isner did not expect to see a ball boy fainting on the other side of the court. Immediately, the 37-year-old ran to help as best he could. Hurkacz and a woman who identified herself as a doctor also pitched in.

“I don’t think I did anything special,” Isner told ATPTour.com. “I saw Hubi running to the side of the court and it’s a scary thing because he had this ‘he-saw-a-ghost look’ in his face and he collapsed, and luckily someone was there. But I think people need to realise how hard it is what these ball boys and ball girls do. It’s a tough job out there in the heat. We appreciate their effort so much out there.

“From what I hear, the kid is going to be okay and hopefully he’s getting some fluids and in the air conditioning right now resting up. Someone told me that he remembers watching me since he was four years old or something like that, so that’s very cool to hear. But it was definitely a very scary situation and [I am] just glad that he seems to be okay.”

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Taylor Fritz’s fast start to the Western & Southern Open continued Wednesday with a rapid 6-3, 6-2 second-round victory against the in-form Nick Kyrgios.

In a clash between two of the biggest servers on the ATP Tour, it was the 11th seed Fritz whose delivery proved impenetrable in his 51-minute win at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati. The American powered 16 aces and did not face a break point in his first tour-level meeting with Kyrgios, who received treatment on his knee from the physio during the match.

“It feels great to have [my] game come together today,” said Fritz, who improved his record at Masters 1000 tournaments to 15-3 with the win. “That’s the kind of match I really needed to give me a lot of confidence going into the next match, going to the US Open, a lot of things are clicking for sure."

Fritz defeated Sebastian Baez in just 54 minutes in his opening match in Cincinnati, where he is now into the third round for the first time in five appearances. His opponent there will be Andrey Rublev, after the sixth seed sealed a 6-7(7), 7-6(3), 6-2 win against Fabio Fognini.

More to follow…

Ben Shelton only just completed his sophomore year at the University of Florida, but the 19-year-old American appears ready to graduate onto the ATP Tour.

The Western & Southern Open wild card continued his dream ATP Masters 1000 debut on Wednesday with a dominant 6-3, 6-3 win against fifth seed Casper Ruud, one day after edging Lorenzo Sonego in three sets. Shelton needed just one hour, eight minutes to secure his first Top 10 win and advance to the third round, where he will face ninth seed and fellow lefty Cameron Norrie.

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After winning the final two games of his opening-round victory, Shelton won the first two games of both sets against Ruud. Those early breaks were more than enough as the American did not face a break point on serve.

Shelton dropped just eight points on serve, winning 85 per cent (22/26) of his first-serve points and 78 per cent (14/18) on his second delivery. He was also ruthlessly efficient on return, breaking in all three games in which he created a break point, including a three-deuce battle in his first return game.

Cameron Norrie outlasted his fellow Briton Andy Murray in an engrossing battle of attrition Wednesday in Cincinnati, where the ninth seed triumphed 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the pair’s second-round clash at the Western & Southern Open.

Neither player was able to take control for any significant period during the tight two-hour, 38-minute encounter in Ohio, but it was Norrie who found something extra in the closing stages as two-time champion Murray began to struggle physically in the Cincinnati heat. A solitary break late in both the second and third sets was enough for Norrie to secure his first win against Murray and his 39th tour-level win of the year.

“I just needed to put a lot of balls in the court,” said Norrie after levelling his ATP Head2Head series against Murray at 1-1. “At the start of the match nothing was really working for me, I was not really being physical, I was not really executing how I liked.

“Credit to Andy, he came out and was using his slice a lot, coming forward well. He reads the game incredibly, so credit to him and it was not easy towards the end, I managed just to find a way.”

A match of fine margins was defined by some pivotal moments, most notably when Murray pushed a routine backhand volley wide when he had break point in the opening game of the second set. Norrie made no mistake when his opportunities came, breaking in the eighth game of the second set and the ninth game of the third as his consistency from deep ensured the Murray delivery was frequently under pressure.

No one’s more surprised that he still has a shot at No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in 2022 than Rafael Nadal himself.

At the tennis-advanced age of 36, the Spaniard hasn’t played a competitive match in nearly a month and a half, an abdominal tear having forced him out of Wimbledon after a five-set quarter-final escape against American Taylor Fritz. Yet here he is, age-defiant, back in Cincinnati for the first time in half a decade, a 36-time ATP Masters 1000 champion who’s apparently still hungry for more.

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Nadal could usurp the top-ranked Daniil Medvedev should he win the title this week, and Medvedev fail to reach the quarter-finals, returning to No. 1 for the first time since January 2020. It’s a battle that will also decide the top seed at the upcoming US Open. 

“It means a lot to me to have that opportunity, something that I never expected could happen again. But here we are,” said Nadal, the No. 2 seed at the Western & Southern Open. “The main thing is to stay healthy and finish the season playing the events that I want to play. I will not play more than what I believe will work well for my body to achieve this goal, but I am going to put all my efforts into every single event that I play. 

On 24 October 2014, 17-year-old Borna Coric walked onto centre court at the Swiss Indoors Basel. In his first ATP 500 event, the Croatian stood across the net from his idol, Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals. It was an experience he will never forget.

“It was a full stadium for our quarter-final. I remember I was just enjoying it. I was super happy. I was like a kid in a candy store,” Coric told ATPTour.com. “It just felt good. I was in the moment, I was living my dream.”

It was a dream for Coric just to face Nadal. The teen did much more than that, defeating the Spaniard 6-2, 7-6(4). He now owns a 2-2 ATP Head2Head record against the legendary lefty, with those four meetings coming between 2014 and 2017.

Five years on from their most recent clash, Coric will get another chance to go stroke-for-stroke with the 36-time ATP Masters 1000 champion at the Western & Southern Open.

“I love those moments,” Coric said. “I love the big stages.”

Daniil Medvedev rued facing the unseeded Nick Kyrgios so early in Montreal after defeat in his opening match last week. The World No. 1 faced another tough test against Botic van de Zandschulp on Tuesday night as he began his Western & Southern Open campaign.

Playing against the only man to take a set off him in his 2021 US Open title run, Medvedev made a fast start behind an instant break but had to survive a strange second set to secure a 6-4, 7-5 victory and advance to the third round in Cincinnati.

"The second set was not that clean," said Medvedev, who surrendered a break advantage and saved a set point on serve in the set. "The first set was great. Everything was working. I had three games where I had break points but managed to break in the first game, which was enough."

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Solid if unspectacular, Medvedev built a lead of a set and a break but immediately surrendered his advantage as van de Zandschulp levelled at 3-3 in the second. After the Dutchman saved three break points to hold for 5-4, it was Medvedev's turn to save a break point, which doubled as set point. The top seed survived thanks to an error from his opponent, then broke for the third time in the match as van de Zandschulp double-faulted three times on serve at 5-all.

Carlos Alcaraz fell victim to an upset bid from American Tommy Paul in his last outing, admitting post-match that he couldn't handle the "pressure" of being the second seed in Montreal.

The Spaniard did not allow the pressure to build on Tuesday in his second-round match at the Western & Southern Open as he breezed past home hope Mackenzie McDonald 6-3, 6-2 on the Grandstand to earn his first win in his second Cincinnati appearance.

"I'm really happy with the performance today," he said. "One of the goals in this tournament is to grow with the pressure... to enjoy as I did at the beginning of the year and last year. To enjoy playing great tennis, to try to be relaxed. I think in this round I did it and I'm really happy with it."

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An ATP Masters 1000 champion in Miami and Madrid already in 2022, Alcaraz improved to 16-3 at that elite level this season and 43-8 on the year, including 13-3 on hard courts. 

Ben Shelton has had a knack for peaking at the crucial moments in his college career, earning the title-clinching match win for the University of Florida at the 2021 NCAA Championships and finding top form at the 2022 individual championships to claim the singles title in May.

Since then, the 19-year-old has reached two ATP Challenger Tour finals and two semi-finals in his native United States. He also earned a win in his tour-level debut last month in Atlanta before a third-set tie-break loss to John Isner, who was full of praise for his young countryman post-match.

On Tuesday at the Western & Southern Open, Shelton rose to the occasion in his ATP Masters 1000 debut, thrilling the home crowd on Porsche Court. On the right side of a three-setter against Italy's Lorenzo Sonego, the wild card scored a 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-5 win in two hours, 52 minutes. The victory moved him inside the Top 200 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and set up a second-round showdown with fifth seed Casper Ruud.

"It means a lot [to get my first Masters 1000 win]," he said post-match. "I was really grateful for [tournament director] Eric [Butorac] giving me a wild card here. I'm really happy that I get to play my first one here in the United States. It's an amazing atmosphere here and it was a lot of fun today, so I'm excited for Round 2."

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Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies faced down two of the biggest serves on the ATP Tour on Tuesday to book a second-round berth at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.

The German duo converted three of six break points against Miami champions Hubert Hurkacz and John Isner to seal a 6-4, 7-6(0) first-round victory at the ATP Masters 1000 event. A topsy-turvy second set contained four breaks of serve but Krawietz and Mies dominated the tie-break to set a meeting with Alex de Minaur and Cameron Norrie.

Two-time Roland Garros champions Krawietz and Mies are chasing their maiden Masters 1000 title in Ohio, where they have never progressed beyond the quarter-finals.

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Also on Tuesday, Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara edged home wild card pairing Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe in a tense first-round clash. The British-Finnish team, which lifted its first ATP Tour title of the year in Hamburg last month, triumphed 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 on tournament debut in Cincinnati.

Nick Kyrgios is known for his sizzle — huge serves, tremendous touch, tweeners and winners out of nowhere. Although some question his shot selection from time to time, the Australian says there are brains behind his brilliance.

“I feel like I do my research on all the players, and I feel as if I have got a very good tennis brain. Watching tennis as a kid and all the tennis I have played and just how much I watch it, I kind of know everyone's strengths and weaknesses,” Kyrgios said. “I just feel like I know my game style well and what works. I feel obviously against someone like Fokina or Medvedev, de Minaur, these type of players, if I engage in too many rallies, it's not high percentage.”

Kyrgios specifically referred to how players will engage in crosscourt rallies to play “high percentages”. He is unafraid of switching things up and changing the rhythm of a rally.

“For me, that's not high percentage. That's not how I'm going to win matches is by playing easy balls crosscourt. For 90 per cent of players, that's high percentage, but for me that's very low-percentage tennis. That's not going to get it done,” Kyrgios said. “Against these types of players, I know I have to stay on top of the points, stay aggressive, try and shorten the points where I can, serve and volley, mix it up, slice. I have got to play my type of tennis, and that's high percentage.”

To the 27-year-old, it is less about following conventions and more about employing your game style properly against a given opponent. Fighting fire with fire is not always going to work, for example.

Another week, another strong start for Nick Kyrgios in 2022.

The Australian improved his record in first-round matches this year to 11-0 with a 7-5, 6-4 victory against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati on Tuesday.

Kyrgios, who reached his sole ATP Masters 1000 final in Cincinnati in 2017, struggled for consistency at times during his 90-minute win, but he was clinical in converting three of four break points during his maiden ATP Head2Head clash against Davidovich Fokina.

“He’s a tricky player, he’s so talented, he’s got so many shots at his disposal,” said Kyrgios after the match. “So I knew that I just had to serve well and then dictate as much as I can. His backhand is incredible. It was a tricky match."

The INSIGHTS In Attack statistics for the match reveal the extent to which Kyrgios tried to stay on top of Davidovich Fokina during rallies. The Australian struck the ball from attacking positions 33 per cent of the time, the third highest In Attack rate of the tournament so far.

Working overtime on your 21st birthday? It was all worth it for Jannik Sinner.

The Italian was made to dig deep by Thanasi Kokkinakis in the pair’s first-round match at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati on Tuesday, but the 10th seed ultimately prevailed 6-7(9), 6-4, 7-6(6) in a marathon three-hour, 15-minute encounter.

“I love to play tennis and doing the thing that you love on your birthday is the best thing you can do,” said Sinner after the match. “Obviously today was a happy ending, so I’m very happy about that.”

Sinner fired 43 winners, 30 of them from his forehand wing, while Kokkinakis struck 35 of his own as their maiden tour-level meeting proved to be an engrossing one. Sinner appeared to have the momentum after twice breaking Kokkinakis’ serve to claim the second set, but the World No. 12 needed a deciding-set tie-break to clinch the win and book a second-round meeting with Pablo Carreno Busta or Miomir Kecmanovic at the ATP Masters 1000 event.

“In the beginning I was not playing so well or feeling the ball so well,” said Sinner. “I tried to be a little bit more aggressive, which I had to do because Thanasi is a very attacking player. Let’s take the positives out of this match, and hopefully in the next round I can play also at a higher level.”

As the North American hard-court swing continues to heat up this week at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, some of the country’s biggest stars will be looking to build on their recent success on home soil.

Taylor Fritz, Reilly Opelka and Tommy Paul currently sit inside the Top 35 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and are part of a wider group of 13 players from the United States who are currently in the Top 100. While the relationships between many of those in the American contingent are strong, the bond Fritz, Opelka and Paul hold is extra special.

When the trio were teenagers, they trained together at the USTA base in Florida. It provided them the opportunity to work on their games, while crucially also allowing them to develop and build the foundations of friendships that remain stronger today than ever. Opelka remembers their junior days well.

“We first met when we were around 13 years old and we have been training together since then and we started hanging out then, so the relationships naturally formed,” Opelka told ATPTour.com. “At that age, it is an interesting time. We had a weird setup because we didn’t have any parents around.

“It was us three living together, so we didn’t have as much direction. It was like a free for all. There are not many guys aged 13 who have this massive freedom and could do what we had. This is kind of what we had when we were living in the dorms.”

Botic van de Zandschulp has quickly become a star on the ATP Tour, ranked a career-high No. 24 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. The Dutchman’s rise has been so swift, he was outside the Top 100 a year ago and did not get into qualifying at last year’s Western & Southern Open. On Tuesday evening, he will face World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev for a place in the third round of the main draw.

“I actually like the big courts, the big stages. I feel more free when I am playing on a big court. It’s still so different from last year, playing tournaments where not a lot of people were coming to watch,” van de Zandschulp told ATPTour.com. “Of course it’s really nice that it’s happening so fast that I’m playing a lot of big names.”

This will be his third clash against Medvedev in less than a year. Their first meeting came in the quarter-finals of the US Open, where van de Zandschulp made a dream run as a qualifier. The 6’3” right-hander was the only player who won a set against Medvedev at Flushing Meadows.

Despite trailing 0-2 in their ATP Head2Head series, van de Zandschulp has learned a lot about the 2020 Nitto ATP Finals champion’s game.

“He’s returning from so far. Other guys aren’t returning that far, so that was a thing that was different from other matches,” van de Zandschulp said. “It’s insane how he never played a slice when he’s reaching for a backhand. He never plays a slice. Those are things I never faced before so it’s something to get used to. Now I've played him twice and let’s hope the third time is going to be better than the last two times.”

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina knows that when he steps on centre court at the Western & Southern Open Tuesday, he will be facing one of the hottest players on the ATP Tour in Nick Kyrgios. That would make some players nervous.

Not Davidovich Fokina.

“I always say that I prefer to play on the big stadiums,” Davidovich Fokina told ATPTour.com. “I increase my level and I prefer to play in those stadiums. With Kyrgios, who is a showman, it is for sure going to be a fun match to watch.”

The Spaniard knows the Australian reached the Wimbledon final, triumphed in Washington and advanced to the Montreal quarter-finals. Playing an opponent of his form is something Davidovich Fokina plans to embrace.

“He’s playing very good. He’s on fire right now. For sure it is going to be a tough match,” Davidovich Fokina said. “I will do my best. I will try to bother him on his serve, try my best and let’s see what happens.”