Goffin Advances Through Cincinnati Qualifying

Former finalist David Goffin will need to work overtime if he is to return to the final weekend of the Western & Southern Open this year, but the Belgian completed the first part of his mission Sunday when he advanced through qualifying.

The 31-year-old rallied from a set down to defeat Chinese Taipei’s Chun-Hsin Tseng 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 after saving eight of nine break points to reach the main draw in Cincinnati. Goffin recently pushed Cameron Norrie to 7-5 in the fifth set in the Wimbledon quarter-finals but lost his opening match of the US Open Series in Washington, D.C. last week to Jack Sock.

Also advancing to the main draw is World No. 56 Jaume Munar, who has successfully qualified for all three American ATP Masters 1000 events (Indian Wells, Miami, Cincinnati) this season after taking down home hope Steve Johnson 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

For the third straight year, former UCLA standout Marcos Giron advanced to the main draw in Cincinnati after winning a tight battle against Italian Fabio Fognini, 7-6(9), 7-5. Fognini’s countryman, 27-year-old Lorenzo Sonego, breezed by Bradley Klahn 6-2, 6-4 in his second round qualifying match.

Rain halted play around 5:45pm local time (ET) for nearly an hour before matches resumed Sunday evening.

Playing under the lights, #NextGenATP Italian Lorenzo Musetti advanced past Serbian Dusan Lajovic 6-4, 6-4 to earn his debut at the Masters 1000 event. The top seed in qualifying, Musetti won his first tour-level title last month in Hamburg, where he beat Carlos Alcaraz in a thrilling three-set final.

Thanasi Kokkinakis, seeded 14th, is also through after edging third seed Ilya Ivashka 7-5, 1-6, 7-5. The Australian will be making his second main-draw appearance in Cincinnati following his run to the second round as a qualifier in 2015.