Stefanos Tsitsipas continued to look at home in Cincinnati on Thursday at the Western & Southern Open.

The Greek, who has reached the semi-finals of the ATP Masters 1000 event in each of the past two years, advanced to the quarter-finals with a dominant 6-3, 6-3 win against Diego Schwartzman.

Earlier this season, the pair had played two tight three-setters. But Tsitsipas never allowed Schwartzman to get comfortable on the Ohio hard court, triumphing in one hour and minutes to take a 3-2 lead in their ATP Head2Head series.

The 2019 Nitto ATP Finals champion stood out on return, earning 14 break points in the match and converting five of them. The fourth seed is into the last eight at the Lindner Family Tennis Center without losing a set.

Tsitsipas was in complete control when he served for the match at 5-2 in the second set, but mishit a backhand long to keep Schwartzman’s hopes alive. The Argentine was unable to take advantage of the opening, however, losing his serve for the fifth time in the next game and with it, the match.

Next up for Tsitsipas will be an American: John Isner or Sebastian Korda. Tsitsipas has won four consecutive meetings with Isner (4-2 overall) and claimed his only match against Korda, which came in Cincinnati last year.

Daniil Medvedev showed further signs of improvement at the Western & Southern Open Thursday, when he backed up his opening-round win over Botic van de Zandschulp with a victory against dynamic lefty Denis Shapovalov.

The 26-year-old overcame Canadian Shapovalov 7-5, 7-5 in one hour and 45 minutes to reach his second ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final of the season. The top seed suffered a disappointing second-round loss against Nick Kyrgios in Montreal last week, but he is looking back to his best on the courts in Cincinnati.

Medvedev hit his flat backhand with consistency, while he stood deep behind the baseline on return to soak up Shapovalov’s lefty serve and penetrating forehand, improving to 3-2 in their ATP Head2Head series.

“The match was pretty tight. I felt that it was a great level. I felt that he was missing a bit more than me but making more points, but that is how Shapo plays,” Medvedev said in his on-court interview. “My goal was to stay there every point possible and try and put pressure on him when I had the chance. But there were many points where I was just running across the baseline, trying to get back his shots. Generally happy with the level.”

The 14-time tour-level titlist will next play American Taylor Fritz after the Indian Wells champion edged Andrey Rublev in three sets.

“Taylor is a great player. We have hit quite a few times. Before ATP Cup we had a session and I think he beat me, which doesn’t really matter, but I said to my coach, ‘Wow he can play really well, it can be a good year for him.’ Then he won Indian Wells,” Medvedev said. “Maybe he could have done better at some other tournaments, but he is a Masters [1000] champion. He is an amazing player and I need to be at my best to try and beat him.”

With his victory, Medvedev has improved his record in Ohio to 13-4. The 26-year-old lifted his maiden Masters 1000 crown at the hard-court event in 2019, before he enjoyed a run to the semi-finals last season. He is looking to capture his second title of the season this week, after triumphing in Los Cabos earlier this month.

Medvedev is also ensured of his No. 1 status in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings until at least after the US Open following Rafael Nadal’s second-round defeat against Borna Coric on Wednesday.

FOLLOW THIS WEEK’S ACTION

📺 TV Schedule
🎾 Watch Live On Tennis TV
📱 Follow Live Scores On ATP WTA Live
📧 Sign Up For Newsletters

In a hard-fought first clash, Shapovalov continuously tried to pull Medvedev around the court, dancing around the ball to strike his forehand into the corners. However, the top seed has become renowned for being able to dig deep and soak up pressure and that was on show during the key moments.

Medvedev forced Shapovalov to overhit during the 11th game of the first set as he gained the decisive break, before the pressure overwhelmed Shapovalov again during the latter stages of the second set, when Medvedev’s watertight groundstrokes forced the Canadian to make one error to many on serve at 5-5. Medvedev then swept through his final service game to advance.

Medvedev’s defensive skills frustrated Shapovalov throughout the match and is shown in his INSIGHTS: Steal Score. The top seed won 39 per cent of points when defending, well above the Tour average of 34 per cent. This was in contrast to Shapovalov, who earned just 23 per cent of points when on the back foot.

Shapovalov earned consecutive wins for the first time since May when he defeated Tommy Paul to reach the third round in Cincinnati. However, he was unable to hit through Medvedev and advance to the quarter-finals for the first time in Ohio.

Taylor Fritz reached his third ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final of the season Thursday at the Western & Southern Open, where he clawed past Andrey Rublev 6-7(4), 6-2, 7-5 to set a potential clash with World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev.

The American, who dispatched Nick Kyrgios in his last match in Cincinnati, showcased his defensive and offensive skills throughout the two-hour and 32-minute clash against Rublev, soaking up the sixth seed’s aggressive ball striking to improve to 4-2 in their ATP Head2Head series.

Fritz now holds a 35-13 record on the year and is the first American since John Isner and Jack Sock in 2017 to reach the last eight at three Masters 1000 events in a single season.

The 24-year-old defeated Rublev en route to his first Masters 1000 trophy in Indian Wells in March and will continue the quest for a third trophy of the season when he next plays Medvedev or Canadian Denis Shapovalov. Fritz had never been beyond the first round in Cincinnati in three previous appearances before this week.

In a tight clash, both looked to step inside the baseline and dictate play off the ground. Rublev, who received a medical timeout during the match due to a leg injury, saved one set point on serve at 4-5 in the first set, before he found early momentum in the tie-break to move ahead.

However, Fritz upped his intensity in the second set and started to frustrate Rublev with his consistency, committing just four unforced errors to force a decider. With the pressure on, it was Fritz who held his nerve to advance, breaking in the 11th game of the third set before holding to triumph.

Fritz is up to No. 10 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin as he looks to qualify and make his debut at the Nitto ATP Finals in November.

Rublev was looking to advance to his third Masters 1000 quarter-final of the year, having reached the semi-finals in Indian Wells and quarter-finals in Madrid. The 24-year-old, who edged Fabio Fognini in his opening match, reached the final in Cincinnati last season.

The International Tennis Writers Association (ITWA) is delighted to announce Giri Nathan as the inaugural winner of the Tom Perrotta Prize for Tennis Journalism.

The annual prize, which is awarded to a writer under the age of 40 who shows excellence in tennis journalism and which includes a $2,000 cash award, will be presented during the US Open at Flushing Meadows.

The five-strong judging panel loved Nathan’s “refreshing” writing style, particularly in two pieces for Racquet Magazine; “Big Nick Energy”, about Nick Kyrgios and “Emma, Inc”, which examined the impact of Emma Raducanu’s stunning US Open triumph in 2021.

The award is in memory of American writer Tom Perrotta, whose exemplary contributions to tennis were curtailed by his untimely death at the age of 44.

The Association of Tennis Professionals, The Women’s Tennis Association, The International Tennis Federation and The International Tennis Writers Association co-sponsor the award.

ITWA would like to thank all those who entered or were nominated and those who gave their time and expertise to judge the entries.

Playing at the Western & Southern Open for the first time in five years on Wednesday night, Rafael Nadal showed the Cincinnati fans why it was worth the wait to see their 2013 champion return. But after battling Borna Coric for an engrossing two hours, 51 minutes on centre court, the Spaniard bowed out of the ATP Masters 1000 event after his opening match.

Playing in his first match since withdrawing ahead of the Wimbledon semi-finals with an abdominal tear, Nadal dropped a 7-6(9), 4-6, 6-3 decision to the Croatian as he struggled to consistently play at the level which has propelled him to four tour-level titles this season.

“Obviously I didn’t play my best match,” Nadal said in his post-match presser, later revealing he was only able to play two practice sets in the buildup. “[It is] something that can happen. Historically this tournament has been difficult for me. So coming back from a tough period of time, [it is] something that’s easy to accept and easy to say congrats to Borna, that he played better.”

Nadal missed out on two set points in a dramatic first-set tie-break but regrouped to force a decider. Down the stretch, Coric dictated the rallies as he claimed his lone break of the match midway through the final set to earn the statement victory.

“It’s difficult to take a lot of positive things, but I need to improve,” Nadal said. “I need to practise. I need to return better. I need days [on the court], and that’s the truth. Obviously I had my chances in the beginning. In the tie-break I had two important chances with two set points that I played terrible with two more-or-less easy shots.”

The 36-year-old also rued “a couple of terrible points” after he created an opening at 0/30 early in the third set, but kept a positive outlook overall.

“You lose, you move forward. I know the way,” he said. “The main thing for me is to stay healthy. It has been a difficult injury to manage, to be honest. The last month and a half hasn’t been easy, because having a tear on the abdominal, you don’t know when [you are]100 per cent over the thing, so that affects a little bit in terms of not [being] sure if you are able to try your best in every serve.”

He now turns his attention to the US Open, where he will have a chance to return to the top spot in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for the first time since early 2020.

“I need to move forward and just start to think about the energy that the crowd gives me in New York,” he said. “I know it’s a very special place for me, and I enjoy it. [I’ve had] unforgettable moments there, and I’m going to try my very best every single day to be ready for that.”

As far back as his 2016 breakthrough at Flushing Meadows, when as a highly touted teen he claimed the US Open boys’ singles title, Felix Auger-Aliassime has had to tote some outsized outside expectations.

Here we could barely pronounce his name, yet we were sure this uncannily athletic Canadian was destined for a title-filled career. The thing is, we forgot that he was just 16; we expected it all to happen overnight.   

“You shouldn’t listen to what is said outside,” said Auger-Aliassime last week in his native Montreal, where he became the first Quebecois to reach the quarter-finals of the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers on home turf. “You always try to see the future. I do that, too. But what a player has to do is to keep a cool head because every point you play, you must win them by yourself. You have to win each match you play and start again every day. Nothing is easy.”

The successes would indeed come. In 2019, the then-18-year-old became the youngest member of the Top 25 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in 20 years, the youngest ATP 500 finalist (Rio de Janeiro) in a decade, and the youngest Miami Open semi-finalist in tournament history, which dates back to 1985. By 2021, he had cracked the Top 10, only the third Canadian to do so after Milos Raonic and Denis Shapovalov, while reaching the Wimbledon quarter-finals and US Open semi-finals.

But after going winless in his first eight finals at the tour level, some began to wonder if he had what it took to deliver on all that promise they had first pinned on him back in 2016. That is until he helped lead his countrymen to the 2022 ATP Cup title (beating the likes of Alexander Zverev), then went on to defeat two Top-10 opponents (Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas) in capturing his first ATP trophy in Rotterdam.  

“Tennis is a sport, many things happen: Sometimes good things, sometimes not as good,” said Auger-Aliassime, now 22. “The important thing is to keep going. Even when you win, it’s important to see what you can improve. I’ve been doing that for my whole career.”

FOLLOW THIS WEEK’S ACTION

📺 TV Schedule
🎾 Watch Live On Tennis TV
📱 Follow Live Scores On ATP WTA Live
📧 Sign Up For Newsletters

The seventh seed this week at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, Auger-Aliassime is poised for a third-round meeting with 10th seed Jannik Sinner. He defeated the Italian in their only other ATP Head2Head encounter earlier this year in the Round of 16 at the ATP Masters 1000 Madrid, 6-1, 6-2. The outcome could be telling as both players jockey for position in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin. Auger-Aliassime has already moved up one spot this week to sixth position, while Sinner is 15th and could surge into the Top 8 with a title. The Canadian could further distance himself with another win on Thursday.

A quarter-finalist this year at the Australian Open, Dubai, Miami, Monte-Carlo, Rome and Wimbledon, Sinner claimed his first title of 2022 last month in Umag (def. Carlos Alcaraz, 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-1). Since adding Darren Cahill to his coaching team (he joins Simone Vagnozzi), Sinner appears to be playing an even more aggressive brand of tennis, something that was on display this week on his 21st birthday in a three-hour, 15-minute, 6-7(9), 6-4, 7-6(6) opening-round win over Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis. A six-time ATP titlist, he is chasing his maiden Masters 1000 crown in Cincinnati, where he reached the second round in his tournament debut a year ago.

Next up for World No. 1 and 2019 champ Daniil Medvedev is 31st-ranked Denis Shapovalov, who held off American Tommy Paul in Round 2, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. The Canadian, who is coming off back-to-back wins for the first time since reaching the quarter-finals in Rome in May, is an even 2-2 against the top-ranked Medvedev, having dropped their most recent encounter last year at the Laver Cup in Boston, 6-4, 6-0.

Now 13-3 in his past five tournaments, highlighted by his second Eastbourne title and his Grand Slam-best quarter-final run at Wimbledon (l. to Rafael Nadal in five sets), Taylor Fritz will do battle with 2021 Cincinnati finalist Andrey Rublev. The American got the best of Rublev in March en route to his first ATP Masters 1000 crown in Indian Wells (7-5, 6-4 in the semi-finals), and now holds a slight 3-2 edge in ATP Head2Heads.

“I need to attack as much as possible. He’s a very aggressive-minded player like I am, as well,” observed Fritz, now 21-7 on hard courts and 15-3 at ATP Masters 1000 events this season. “I feel like I need to try and beat him to the punch as much as possible. I can’t be the one being passive, letting him move me around the court, work me around the court. I just need to kind of focus on myself, play my game and be aggressive.”

The No. 3 seed Alcaraz is looking for his second consecutive win over Marin Cilic in 2022. The Spaniard, 19, downed the Croat vet on his way to the Miami Open crown in April (6-4, 6-4 in Round 2), his first of two ATP Masters 1000 titles on the year.

Cilic, 33, captured the 2016 title in Cincinnati, ousting then-eighth-ranked Andy Murray in the final, 6-4, 7-5.

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.

Both players opened confidently despite a relative lack of match play — Coric playing his sixth tour-level contest since withdrawing ahead of Wimbledon and Nadal taking the court for the first time since pulling out of the grass-court Slam ahead of the semi-finals.

Nadal made a particularly strong start, pumping his fist after stepping into a down-the-line backhand on the very first point and not committing an unforced error until the seventh game. Coric also settled in quickly with a first-round win against Lorenzo Musetti already under his belt, and he began to enjoy the better of the rallies until a one-hour rain delay came with Nadal leading 5-4.

FOLLOW THIS WEEK’S ACTION

📺 TV Schedule
🎾 Watch Live On Tennis TV
📱 Follow Live Scores On ATP WTA Live
📧 Sign Up For Newsletters

When they returned and soon after headed to the tie-break, Nadal roared with the crowd as he battled back from 2/4, but was left to rue a missed swinging volley at 6/5. With Nadal’s double faulted on Coric’s third set point, the Croatian made amends after a botched drop shot on a short ball at 9/8.

Nadal capitalised on the lone break point midway through an entertaining second set, with both players creating stunning angles to complement strong baseline hitting. Both competitors flashed quick hands at the net as well, with each winning 10 of 15 net points.

Coric applied greater pressure in the decider and was a deserved winner after securing his first break of the match to move ahead 4-2. He backed up the breakthrough with a love hold and had no problems serving out the match after opening his final service game with a statement winner to cap a gruelling rally.

He will next face Roberto Bautista Agut, who advanced to the third round with a 6-3, 6-3 win against home hope Marcos Giron earlier on Wednesday.

“It’s going to be a very interesting match,” said Coric, who holds a 5-4 ATP Head2Head series lead against the Spaniard. “I need to be very aggressive for sure, especially because I was playing for a very long time today and I also finished very late. So I’m going to be even more aggressive probably. “

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.

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.

In second-round action, Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies saved two match points against Alex de Minaur and Cameron Norrie from 7/9 in a Match Tie-break, winning the final four points of a 4-6, 6-3, 11-9 victory. The two-time Roland Garros champions defeated reigning Miami titlists Hubert Hurkacz and John Isner on Tuesday in the opening round.

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.

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.

Shelton, this year’s NCAA singles champion, has enjoyed a breakthrough run at the Western & Southern Open, where on Wednesday he upset World No. 5 Casper Ruud to reach the third round on his ATP Masters 1000 debut.

The tournament also announced Americans who will receive a qualifying wild card: Murphy Cassone, Oliver Crawford, Martin Damm, Brandon Holt, Aleks Kovacevic, Bruno Kuzuhara, Alex Rybakov, Ethan Quinn and Zachary Svajda.

Gael Monfils, a former semi-finalist in New York, withdrew from the tournament due to an injury he suffered in Montreal.

“Following the latest medical exams that I took upon returning in Europe, I will sadly not be able to play at the US Open this year,” Monfils tweeted. “I am forced to undergo a new period of treatment before being able to resume tournaments.”