US teen wildcard Tiafoe stuns Zverev to end treble title bid
CINCINNATI — US teen wildcard Frances Tiafoe shocked seventh-ranked Alexander Zverev 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday, advancing to the third round at the WTA and ATP Cincinnati Masters.
Riding a 10-match win streak after titles in Montreal and Washington, Zverev was a favorite to capture his seventh title of the year in the last major US Open hardcourt tuneup.
But 19-year-old Tiafoe, a secondround loser to the 20-year-old German at Wimbledon and the Australian Open in their only prior meetings, pulled off the greatest triumph of his young career.
“I’m happy it finally happened. I’ve lost a lot of tough matches,” Tiafoe said of his first win over a top-10 rival.
“We’re going to be playing a lot over the next 10 or 15 years. I didn’t want to start out 0-3 against him.”
Zverev said the toll of his extraordinary run caught up with him this week.
“I’m completely dead right now,” Zverev said. “I’ve been dead for the past two days. I finished the match. I could have easily pulled the plug in the second set.”
Zverev broke Tiafoe with a forehand winner to claim the first set, but Tiafoe broke three times to win the second set and again to stay level early in the third.
Tiafoe forced two break and match points in the last game. When Zverev sent a forehand long, Tiafoe screamed with delight.
Tiafoe will next face US 14th seed John Isner, the lone remaining seed in his draw quarter.
Zverev could have matched Andre Agassi in 1995 with the only ATP Washington, Canada and Cincinnati title hat trick in a year.
Rafael Nadal, who returns to the world number one spot Monday for the first time since 2014, was set to later face France’s Richard Gasquet in a second-round match. The 31-year-old Spaniard has a 14-0 career ATP record against Gasquet.
VENUS, KERBER ELIMINATED
Top-ranked Czech defending champion Karolina Pliskova defeated Russian lucky loser Natalia Vikhlyantseva 6-2, 6-3, to drop Dane Caroline Wozniacki from the list of rivals who can overtake her for world number one this week.
Romania’s second-ranked Simona Halep and Ukraine’s fourth-ranked Elina Svitolina could still swipe the top spot for the first time in their careers.
Germany’s third-ranked Angelique Kerber, who lost the top ranking after Wimbledon, missed her chance to reclaim it by losing to Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (13/11).
Leg-cramping Makarova saved a match point in the tie-breaker but needed eight chances to finally subdue Kerber on a drop volley after two hours 38 minutes, lifting her to 5-0 this season against top-5 foes. She faces US wildcard Sloane Stephens next. —