Taylor Fritz came through a thrilling 19-minute tie-break on Tuesday at the Western & Southern Open en route to a 7-6(14), 6-2 first-round victory against Czech Jiri Lehecka in Cincinnati.

The American saved five set points in the first-set tie-break before he was gifted the set on his seventh opportunity when Lehecka double faulted. After winning the tie-break 16/14, Fritz dropped just one of his 13 first-serve points in the second set to triumph after one hour and 44 minutes in hot and lively conditions.

“It was probably as hard as I had, just putting the ball into court,” Fritz said when asked about the fast conditions. “The courts are fast and bouncy… everything wants to fly and on top of that, everything is super windy. I was just trying to put the ball in court.

“I just had to feel it out at the beginning. As much as I wanted to pull the trigger on big points, if it is not there, it is not there, so you have to do what you feel comfortable and hit the ball you feel you can make under pressure.”

Fritz, who reached the semi-finals at the Nitto ATP Finals last year, is currently ninth (2,515 points) in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin. Aiming to close the gap on eighth-placed Casper Ruud (2,605) and seventh-placed Holger Rune (3,045 points), he will be eager for a deep run in Cincinnati, where he reached the quarter-finals last year. Ruud and Rune both have first-round byes in Ohio.

Fritz now leads 2022 Next Gen ATP Finals runner-up Lehecka 3-0 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series and will next play Lorenzo Sonego or qualifier Alexander Shevchenko.

The 25-year-old holds a 29-8 record on hard courts this season, highlighted by title runs in Delray Beach and Atlanta. The 21-year-old Lehecka’s best result this year was a quarter-final run at the Australian Open.

Reigning champion Borna Coric made a winning start to his title defence when he overcame American Sebastian Korda 7-6(5), 6-4 in a match that was played over two days.

“I was a little nervous coming into the match as I know I need to defend my title, so I put a little more expectation on myself,” Coric said. “I have watched many of [Korda’s] matches at the Australian Open and know him quite well.”

After rained ended play on Monday night with Coric 7-6(5), 4-3 ahead, the Croatian came back and finished the job emphatically, holding twice to reach the second round. Last year, Coric came into Cincinnati at No. 152 and posted five Top 20 wins, including Rafael Nadal, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final to lift his first ATP Masters 1000 trophy. The World No. 16 will next meet Hubert Hurkacz or Thanasi Kokkinakis.

Former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka was also on the verge of victory when play stopped on Monday night. The Swiss star, who led Brandon Nakashima 5-2 in the deciding set when they came off, sealed a 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3 win in his first match since reaching the Umag final last month.

Tommy Paul joined countryman Fritz in the second round when he downed Miomir Kecmanovic 7-5, 7-6(2) in one hour and 54 minutes.

The American advanced to the semi-finals in Toronto last week and played with confidence against Kecmanovic, striking 24 winners and saving both break points he faced.

The 26-year-old, currently at a career-high No. 13 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, holds a perfect 9-0 record in first-round hard-court matches this season. Paul will next face Ugo Humbert after the lefty defeated #NextGenATP Frenchman Arthur Fils 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.

After Jannik Sinner won his opening match last week in Toronto against Matteo Berrettini, he was happy with more than just his performance in the match. The Italian was pleased with his form overall.

“My confidence level from last year has increased,” Sinner told ATPTour.com at the time. “I feel much better on the court, more comfortable.”

That became clear when the 21-year-old ended the week by lifting his first ATP Masters 1000 trophy. Sinner lost just one set en route to the biggest title of his career.

It was a week in which nearly everything went well. As top seeds Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev suffered quarter-final upsets, Sinner weathered a Gael Monfils storm in the last eight and did not find himself in trouble the rest of the week.

“When you go through tough moments throughout the whole week and you’re able to manage them in the best possible way,” Sinner said. “I think that’s the best feeling.”

Watch Toronto Final Highlights:

Sinner has been one of the best ball-strikers in the world since he first began his journey on the ATP Tour. Said Alex de Minaur, his opponent in the Toronto final: “He’s got some of the hardest groundstrokes I’ve probably ever dealt with, to be honest.”

Now in fourth place in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, Sinner is in good position to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, where he competed as an alternate in 2021. But there have been tough moments this year for the former junior skiing sensation, too.

At Roland Garros, Sinner lost a gruelling five-hour, 26-minute clash to Daniel Altmaier in the second round. Having entered the tournament with high hopes, the upset was a stunner.

It was not that Sinner did not have the game to win the match that day. It was more about the mental side of his game.

“[I realised it] a little bit during the match, but during I didn’t have the strength to change it,” Sinner said. “After the match we talked, me and my team together, and I feel like we found a good solution, how to find the right way. And as I said, in Toronto, I think I had a very good attitude throughout the whole week and hopefully I can show this also here.”

To Sinner, his mentality is just as important if not more of a key than his strokes on court. Although that was a blip in the season, he attributes his overall confidence in work during the offseason with coaches Darren Cahill and Simone Vagnozzi to execute both physically and mentally.

“We made a lot of good work during the offseason, which is for me very, very important,” Sinner said. “I felt like I was getting stronger also physically. Mentally I was ready to compete also when I was not feeling at 100 per cent. And I think that made me feel like I was ready to compete.”

Flying higher than ever, Sinner will try to capitalise on his momentum this week in Cincinnati and in the future.

“For sure you have to be happy because it’s a good achievement,” Sinner said. “But in the other way I also know that I can still improve my tennis and just look forward to the work. And so hopefully I can keep going, keep practising in the way we do and then we’ll see.”

Andy Murray withdrew from the Western & Southern Open late Monday night due to an abdominal strain.

The former World No. 1, who last week withdrew ahead of his third-round match in Toronto against Jannik Sinner because of the same injury, will not take the court against 11th seed Karen Khachanov. He will be replaced in the draw by a lucky loser on Tuesday.

The 36-year-old showed his fighting spirit in Canada when he won a two-hour, 47-minute battle in the second round against Max Purcell. After withdrawing at that event, he travelled to Cincinnati, but is not ready to compete.

Murray is the No. 36 player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and owns a 12-11 record this season.

Khachanov has not competed since losing in the Roland Garros quarter-finals to Novak Djokovic. The 27-year-old, who will now play a lucky loser instead of Murray, has been out because of a groin injury.

American singles stars Christopher Eubanks and Ben Shelton joined forces on the doubles court Monday in Cincinnati and found immediate success against Belgian duo Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 7-5, 6-4.

Eubanks and Shelton fired six aces and saved the lone break point they faced as they defeated the Roland Garros finalists, who are on track to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals.

Nikola Mektic and John Peers rallied from a set down to defeat American duo Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow 3-6, 7-6(6), 10-3.

Stan Wawrinka is spotting Brandon Nakashima 16 years in age but is just one game away from victory over the former Next Gen ATP Finals champion in the first round of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.

The 38-year-old former three-time major champion was leading the 22-year-old American 6-3, 6-7(5), 5-2 when play was suspended due to rain around 7.50pm. Wawrinka, who received on-court treatment to his lower left leg, is making his first appearance of the North American hard-court swing.

Defending champion Borna Coric was leading American Sebastian Korda 7-6(5), 4-3 in their first-round match when rain returned to the Lindner Family Tennis Centre.

It has been a frustrating day for players and fans in Cincinnati, with rain delaying the start of play by more than 2 1/2 hours. Play has now been halted twice since the late start to Day 2.

Five matches have been completed today, including Felix Auger-Aliassime’s 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over Matteo Berrettini. Chilean Nicolas Jarry also rallied from a set down to defeat Wimbledon quarter-finalist Roman Safiullin 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. Australian qualifier Jordan Thompson defeated American wild card John Isner 7-6(5), 7-6(2).

9.15 pm update: All matches that had not commenced before the rain delay have been cancelled for tonight. Weather permitting, the Wawrinka-Nakashima and Coric-Korda matches will resume tonight. 

Every tournament has a home favourite who receives an extra push from the local fans. Last week, Canadians came out in large numbers to support former World No. 3 Milos Raonic in Toronto. This week, the player who is receiving similar treatment is Ohio’s own J.J. Wolf.

“I think any other tournament I’m on and I’m focussed,” Wolf told ATPTour.com. “In Cincy, I think I’ll let myself look up at the crowd and see family and friends and really appreciate it.”

Ten Americans began the ATP Masters 1000 singles event, but none are closer to the heart of the Cincinnati faithful than Wolf. The 24-year-old, who will play Toronto finalist Alex de Minaur in the first round, grew up at the Western & Southern Open.

“My grandpa, one day each tournament, every year, would take all of the cousins to go watch the matches,” Wolf said. “So it would be however many, 20 of us, or whoever was in town, and we would get to go and walk around for the whole day. We’d get Graeter’s ice cream in between matches, and it was just a treat.”

Wolf fondly remembers eating black raspberry chocolate chip ice cream, which he calls the “best flavour in the country”. One day, he hoped to be in the same position as the players he watched. This year the American will compete in the main draw for the third time and pursue his first win at the Lindner Family Tennis Centre.

“It feels like the first time every time I walk in here. It’s almost surreal,” Wolf said. “I’ve always wanted to be kind of given this opportunity and to know that I’ve worked for it and earned it, it’s a great feeling.”

J.J.’s father, former tennis player Jeff Wolf, was inducted into the Cincinnati Tennis Hall of Fame at the tournament. His family is full of athletes. But he believes his grandfather, Charley Wolf, who passed away last November aged 96, was the best athlete from the Wolf Family.

“He played baseball, basketball, football at Notre Dame. [He played in the Cincinnati] Reds organisation, coached in the NBA. He did it all,” J.J. said. “He started tennis at like 50 and played until he was 93.”

Wolf, a former star at Ohio State University, has played the best tennis of his career in 2023. The American reached a career-high No. 39 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in February, shortly after making the fourth round at the Australian Open. What has he learned through his journey?

“It’s just a lot of getting more comfortable,” Wolf said. “Going places that you know and just being professional and figuring out places to eat and kind of just knowing that it’s a job at the same time and to have fun.”

That was even the case in Australia, where despite being across the world from Cincinnati, he had his eyes on his hometown Cincinnati Bengals heading into the NFL playoffs. According to the American, the people of Cincinnati always support their own, which he will feel this week at the Lindner Family Tennis Centre.

“It’s just the culture here. I feel like a lot of people, they might move away, but everyone comes back and raises kids. It’s kind of this community that just keeps you here and it’s so special,” Wolf said. “People know that and I think they think if you’re from here that’s the only way you’ll feel that as well. So I think that it’s almost like they adopt all of us that are from here.”

Will a return to Cincinnati be the catalyst for a Felix Auger-Aliassime resurgence in 2023?

The 12th-seeded Canadian dug deep Monday for a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 triumph against Matteo Berrettini in a tense first-round encounter at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati. Auger-Aliassime recovered impressively from dropping the opening set on Grandstand to notch his second win in six Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings with the Italian.

Arriving in Ohio on a five-match losing streak, Auger-Aliassime was handed one of the toughest first-round draws possible in seven-time tour-level champion Berrettini. Yet he outhit the Italian by 25 winners to 13 en route to a two-hour, 25-minute confidence-boosting triumph.

“It’s a big win. It’s been a tough year, dealing with new things,” said Auger-Aliassime. “Every win that I get, I’m happy, from now on. Of course the tournament has just started and I want to go further. I still have high ambitions. I never doubted myself.

“There’s comments right and left, but at the end of the day I know my tennis didn’t leave me. I know I can still play great tennis and I’ve proved it today again. So I’m going to try to keep going that way and it’s a positive start. Let’s try to keep this rolling.”

Felix Auger-Aliassime snaps a five-match losing streak to reach the second round in Cincinnati.” />

Auger-Aliassime let slip two break-back points in the final game of the first set before Berrettini moved ahead in their first meeting of 2023. He later acknowledged that disappointment had spurred him on as he converted three of the four break points he earned across the second and third sets for a hard-fought victory between two players striving to rediscover their top level.

“I think I was able to turn my frustration from the first set and from the missed opportunities and errors into something positive,” said the 23-year-old. “I think I had that fire inside that I didn’t want to quit on anything during this match and it’s great that it turned out my way. I’ve been training well, trying my best, and when the results [come] it is a great feeling. I’m very relieved, it’s a good win, and the effort has to keep going now.”

That winning feeling 🙌@felixtennis defeats Matteo Berrettini 4-6 6-2 6-3 to advance to R2 in Cincinnati!@CincyTennis | #CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/SfBK2TXZC0

— ATP Tour (@atptour) August 14, 2023

The four-time tour-level titlist Auger-Aliassime reached the quarter-finals in Cincinnati in both 2021 and 2022. His second-round opponent at the Lindner Family Tennis Center will be Adrian Mannarino, who prevailed 6-4, 6-3 in an all-French encounter with Richard Gasquet on Sunday.

“Every match is different. I can’t take anything for granted,” said Auger-Aliassime. “It was a tough first round, but it’s not going to get any easier. The lesson is just to take that type of energy that I had today and just bring it day after day and see how far that leads me.”

Two #NextGenATP players made a splash on the ATP Challenger Tour this past week.

Dino Prizmic, 18, continued his rapid rise by winning the Banja Luka Open on Sunday while Italian Matteo Gigante collected his second Challenger trophy of the season, claiming the Serena Wines 1881 – Acqua Maniva Tennis Cup on home soil. All five of this week’s Challenger champions rose to career-high rankings on Monday.

Prizmic downed fifth seed and Belgian Kimmer Coppejans 6-2, 6-3 in the final to become the youngest Croatian champion since a 17-year-old Borna Coric in 2014. Prizmic, who won this year’s Roland Garros boys’ singles title, is the first player to win a Grand Slam junior crown and a Challenger title in the same season since Wu Yibing in 2017.

“It’s an amazing feeling because this is my first Challenger win,” said Prizmic, who is at No. 175 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. “I hope I will continue like this. I’m very happy because this year’s work is showing up.”

A quarter-finalist at last month’s ATP 250 event in Umag, Prizmic is the second-youngest Challenger winner of 2023, only behind 17-year-old Jakub Mensik, who won in Prague in May.

In an all-#NextGenATP final, Gigante cruised past Austrian Lukas Neumayer 6-0, 6-2 in Cordenons, where the third-longest active Italian Challenger was celebrating their 20th anniversary.

The Rome native, who won his maiden Challenger title in Tenerife in February, joins Luca van Assche and Dominic Stricker as #NextGenATP players with titles on both hard and clay this season (Challenger level). Following his triumph in Cordenons, Gigante climbed to World No. 162.

Matteo Gigante wins his second ATP Challenger Tour title in Cordenons, Italy.” />
^{Matteo Gigante wins the Challenger 75 event in Cordenons, Italy. Credit: Antonio Ros}

Australian Adam Walton secured his maiden Challenger title in Cary, North Carolina, where the 24-year-old saved two championship points to down Nicolas Moreno De Alboran 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 at the Atlantic Tire Championships I.

“I haven’t been playing Challengers for that long, so I haven’t played many of these guys before so it’s all very new to me, but I’m excited for what the future holds,” Walton said. “It’s my first Challenger title so I’m very happy to get that one.”

Walton is the seventh different singles winner from the University of Tennessee in Challenger history (since 1978). At a career-high No. 206 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Walton is the 11th Challenger champion of 2023 to have competed collegiately in the United States.

Adam Walton wins the Challenger 75 event in Cary, North Carolina.” />
^{Adam Walton wins the Challenger 75 event in Cary, North Carolina. Credit: Atlantic Tire Championships}

Briton Jan Choinski earned his second career Challenger trophy by winning the M.A.R.A Open in Meerbusch, Germany. The 27-year-old ousted Argentine Camilo Ugo Carabelli 6-4, 6-0 in the final.

“I am absolutely thrilled to have finally clinched the victory at this remarkable tournament,” said Choinski, who rose to World No. 129 on Monday. “I had reached the finals here in Meerbusch back in 2018, so to be able to carry it through to the end now is truly gratifying.”

Jan Choinski celebrates winning the Meerbusch Challenger.” />
^{Jan Choinski celebrates winning the Meerbusch Challenger. Credit: M.A.R.A Open}

Last month, Choinski made his major main-draw debut at Wimbledon, where he advanced to the second round. The German-born player has reached at least the semi-finals in four Challenger tournaments this year.

Argentine Genaro Alberto Olivieri survived more than four hours on court Sunday to win the RD Open in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where rain forced the 25-year-old to play his semi-final and final matches on the same day.

Oliveri escaped countryman Marco Trungelliti 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 in the championship match to lift his second Challenger crown and first of this season. Oliveri made his Grand Slam main draw debut this year at Roland Garros and has since ascended to World No. 145.

“I have been growing a lot, more than anything I have been encouraging myself to play better, to pick up rhythms, to serve better, to return [better], I think we are seeing those results,” Oliveri said in Spanish. “I feel like I’m in the best moment of my career and I feel like I’m playing the best tennis of my life too.”

In ATP Challenger Tour doubles action, American duo Evan King and Reese Stalder (Cary champions) and French pair Manuel Guinard and Gregoire Jacq (Meerbusch champions) both won their tour-leading fourth team titles of 2023. They join Ivan Liutarevich and Vladyslav Manafov atop the doubles title leaderboard.