At the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, there was a great show between Frances Tiafoe and Stan Wawrinka, on the Grandstand. The two won a good challenge, with the Swiss who overturned the underdogs and took home a great victory with a double 6-3.
The opportunity to reach the quarterfinals is real, given that he will now face Max Purcell.
Tennis TV YouTube account shared a video with the most spectacular hits by the Swiss tennis legend:
The other matches
Novak Djokovic, after two years, came back to Cincinnati, and he overcame a difficult second round, thanks to the withdrawal in the second set of Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
The Spaniard accused back problems and chose to preserve himself in view of the US Open appointment. The Serbian was the first to allow break points in the match (third game) but also to break his opponent’s serve.
Up 5-3, Nole was unable to close the set immediately, and suffered an unexpected counter-break. It was perhaps the only sour note of the evening for the Serbian, who regained the break in the following game (6-4).
The Wimbledon finalist now awaits the Frenchman Gael Monfils. Victory for Stefanos Tsitsipas, who defeated the American talent Ben Shelton at the end of a great battle. The two never conceded a break point to their opponent, and the Greek needed two tie-breaks to advance in the draw.
The Greek has begun his run-up to number 4 for New York: to reach his goal, he will have to reach at least the semifinal.
After the eliminations of Andrey Rublev and Jannik Sinner, Casper Ruud and Holger Rune were also defeated. The Norwegian failed to beat Max Purcell, good at establishing himself with the final score of 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. On the other hand, many difficulties for the Dane, who lost the first set against the American Mackenzie McDonald and then withdrew from the match, and the reasons for the choice are not clear.
The defending champion was also out of Cincinnati: despite the first set won 7-5, the Croatian Borna Coric was reassembled by the Pole Hubert Hurkacz, who won the next two sets with a double 6-3.