Thiem, Sock, Isner In Action Tuesday In Cincinnati

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Berdych vs. del Potro | Goffin vs. Kyrgios |  Thiem vs. Fognini | Tsonga vs. Karlovic

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Three of the top four Americans in the Emirates ATP Rankings, led by American No. 1 Jack Sock and No. 2 John Isner, highlight a full slate featuring 14 first- and second-round matches Tuesday at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. 

Sock, the No. 13 seed, takes on Japan’s Yuichi Sugita in a first-round match on Center Court Tuesday afternoon. Ranked No. 16 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, Sock is bidding for his third ATP World Tour title of 2017, having captured his 2nd and 3rd ATP singles titles, respectively, at Auckland (d. Sousa) and Delray Beach (w/o vs Raonic) earlier this year. Sock advanced to the SF in Washington (l. to Anderson) before falling to David Ferrer in the R32 at Montreal last week. He is 1-3 lifetime in Cincinnati, reached the R32 in 2015 (l. to Anderson). Sugita, ranked No. 46 in the world, lost his season debut on hard-court last week in Montreal (l. to Goffin in R64). Last year, Sugita advanced to the R16 in his Cincinnati debut (d. A. Zverev in R64, Mahut in R32, l. to Raonic in R16). Earlier this summer, he captured his 1st ATP World Tour at Antalya (d. Mannarino). Sock and Sugita are meeting for the first time on the ATP World Tour.

Isner, the No. 14 seed, plays under the lights on Tuesday against wild card and countryman Tommy Paul for a berth in the R16. On Sunday, Isner fired 20 aces en route to a straight-set victory over Serbian Viktor Troicki in the first round, improving to 9-1 in his last 10 matches. Isner won back-to-back titles at Newport (d. Ebden) and Atlanta (d. Harrison) earlier this summer and did not drop a set in either tournament. Ranked No. 19 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, Isner reached the final in Cincinnati in 2013 (d. No. 1 Djokovic and del Potro, l. to Nadal) and is 12-9 lifetime. The 20-year-old Paul was successful in his Cincinnati debut on Monday, defeating compatriot Donald Young in straight sets. The #NextGenATP American reached back-to-back ATP World Tour QF in Atlanta (l. to Muller) and Washington (l. to Nishikori) during the summer hard-court swing and is currently ranked No. 175 in the Emirates ATP Rankings after reaching a career-high No. 174 the week before. This will be the first meeting between Isner and Paul.

Two players very familiar with each other will kick things off on Center Court Tuesday afternoon when No. 10 seed Tomas Berdych faces 2009 U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro in an opening-round clash. The two have met seven times previously on the ATP World Tour, with del Potro holding a 4-3 edge in their FedEx ATP Head2Head. Berdych won their most recent encounter in the R64 at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells in 2016. Berdych is a two-time semi-finalist at this tournament (2011, d. Federer in QF, l. to Djokovic; 2013, d. Murray in QF, l. to Nadal) and is 18-12 lifetime. The Czech advanced to his fifth ATP World Tour SF of the year in Los Cabos (l. to Kokkinakis) earlier this month before withdrawing from Montreal last week with a rib injury. Last week, del Potro halted Isner’s eight-match winning streak with a 1R victory in Montreal before falling to eventual semi-finalist Denis Shapovalov in the R32. The Argentine advanced to the Cincinnati semi-finals in 2012 (l. to Djokovic) and 2013 (l. to Isner) and is 9-4 lifetime.

The first men’s match on the Grandstand Court Tuesday afternoon is a first-round encounter featuring American Steve Johnson taking on Spain’s David Ferrer for the third time on the ATP World Tour, all on hard-courts. Ferrer took both previous meetings, winning the Vienna final in 2015 in three sets before winning their R32 matchup at the 2016 Australian Open in straight sets. Johnson, ranked No. 37, reached the quarter-finals in Cincinnati in 2016 (d. Tsonga in R16, l. to Dimitrov in QF). In April, Johnson defeated Sock en route to his 2nd ATP World Tour title at Houston (d. Bellucci 76 in 3rd). Ferrer advanced to the Cincinnati final in 2014 (l. to Federer) and is 17-12 lifetime. He captured his 27th career ATP title in Bastad (d. Dolgopolov) last month. 

The marquee evening match on Grandstand Court will feature Austrian No. 1 Dominic Thiem squaring off against Italian No. 1 Fabio Fognini for a spot in the R16. Thiem won their only previous meeting in the R16 at Munich in 2015 on clay. The Austrian is just 5-5 since reaching the SF at Roland Garros (l. to Nadal), squandering match point(s) in losses to Kevin Anderson at Washington and Diego Schwartzman at Montreal. The World No. 8 is bidding for his 40th match win of 2017. On Monday, Fognini defeated #NextGenATP Russian Daniil Medvedev to book his spot in the R32 against Thiem. Fognini, who won his fifth ATP World Tour title in Gstaad (d. Hanfmann) last month, advanced to the QF at Cincinnati in 2014 (l. to Raonic) and is 5-6 lifetime.