Friday Preview: Rafa Faces Double Duty In Cincinnati

View FedEx ATP Head2Head matchups for Day 6 of the Western & Southern Open and vote for who you think will win!
Nadal vs. Ramos-Vinolas | Isner vs. Donaldson | Dimitrov vs. Sugita

View Friday Schedule

• It took Rafael Nadal a record 160 weeks to rise from No. 2 to No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings on August 18, 2008. Nine years later, Nadal is back at the same event on the same day of the week that he became the top men’s tennis player in the world. Nadal defeated Nicolas Lapentti in the Western & Southern Open quarter-finals on Friday, August 1, 2008 to guarantee that he would pass Roger Federer in the rankings later that month. The Spaniard clinched the No. 1 ranking once again in Cincinnati this week when Federer withdrew from the tournament due to a back injury.

• For Nadal to return to the Cincinnati semi-finals, he must defeat fellow Spanish left-hander Albert Ramos-Vinolas this afternoon and either Nick Kyrgios or Ivo Karlovic this evening. Karlovic led Kyrgios 4-3 and the Spaniards had not begun their third-round match when rain ended play on Thursday. Should Karlovic beat Kyrgios, the 38-year-old will be the oldest Cincinnati quarter-finalist in the Open Era and the oldest ATP Masters 1000 quarter-finalist since the series started in 1990.

• Already in the quarter-finals are Americans John Isner and Jared Donaldson, who will meet on Center Court. Isner is facing a #NextGenATP American wild card for the third straight round after eliminating Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe in straight sets. The No. 14 seed, who has ended five consecutive years as the USA No. 1, is 7-1 overall against his #NextGenATP countrymen, losing only to Ernesto Escobedo in the 2017 Houston quarter-finals. Donaldson defeated Nikoloz Basilashvili on Thursday for his first win in 14 Round of 16 matches on the ATP World Tour.

• In other quarter-final matches, 2016 Cincinnati semi-finalist Grigor Dimitrov meets first-time ATP Masters 1000 quarter-finalist Yuichi Sugita. All five of Sugita’s ATP Masters 1000 victories have come in Cincinnati. On Grandstand, No. 3 seed Dominic Thiem takes on the only remaining player other than Nadal to have won an ATP Masters 1000 title: 2012 Paris champion David Ferrer.