Sania, Bopanna stay in the hunt

NADAL WAS ASSURED OF ADVANCING PAST INJURED MURRAY FOR THE TOP SPOT WHEN FEDERER WITHDREW FROM CINCINNATI WITH A BACK INJURY.

India’s Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna advanced in the men’s and women’s doubles categories at the Cincinnati Masters here on Thursday.

The fourth seeded pair of Sania and her Chinese partner Peng Shuai overcame unseeded Romanians Irina-Camelia Begu and Raluca Olaru 6-3, 6-7 (1), 10-3 in the quarter-finals.

Bopanna and Croatian Ivan Dodig battled past the Colombian-Italian pair Juan Sebastián Cabal and Fabio Fognini with a 5-7, 7-5, 10-8 victory in the prequarterfinals.

Bopanna and Dodig will meet Marcelo Melo of Brazil and Lukasz Kubot of Poland for a place in the semi-finals.

Rafael Nadal and Karolina Pliskova, the No 1 seeds at the Cincinnati Masters, never got a chance to break a sweat before play was halted Thursday at the rain-hit tournament.

Czech defending champion Pliskova led Italian qualifier Camila Giorgi 3-0 when play was suspended while former and future world No 1 Nadal and compatriot Albert Ramos-Vinolas never started their third-round match before the final drenching began.

Court conditions more suitable for Olympic swim star Michael Phelps than tennis stars had US 14th seed John Isner, who beat teen Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (7/4), 7-5, happy he snuck in a win between storms.

Second-ranked Simona Halep of Romania charged closer to taking the world number one ranking from Pliskova by beating Latvian 15th seed Anastasija Sevastova 6-4, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals.

But five matches were pushed to Friday, when double duty could come for Nadal, the 15-time Grand Slam champion assured of returning to world number one next week.

Nadal was assured of advancing past injured Andy Murray for the top spot when Roger Federer withdrew from Cincinnati with a back injury.

Eighth-ranked Austrian Dominic Thiem, the only other seed remaining in Nadal’s half of the draw, edged France’s Adrian Mannarino 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/3). He faces Spaniard David Ferrer in the quarter-finals.

British seventh seed Johanna Konta downed Slovakian 11th seed Dominika Cibulkova 6-3, 6-4, to move into the quarter-final path of Halep.