No.1 Halep under pressure
Rain halts Cincinnati Masters’ night session
The women’s draw took a beating on Wednesday in Cincinnati, where world No.1 Simona Halep’s was still battling when rain halted play. The top-seeded Romanian stood 4-6, 6-3, 3-3 against Australian qualifier Ajla Tomljanovic when storms rolled in to bring the night session to an end on a day that had already seen one three-hour rain delay.
Halep had regained some momentum after falling two breaks down in the third set, with both women taking medical timeouts. Halep was just one of the top women to run into trouble in the combined WTA and ATP Masters hard-court tournament – the last major tuneup for the US Open.
Defending champion Garbine Muguruza, playing for the first time since losing in the second round of her Wimbledon title defense, fell 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 to Lesia Tsurenko. Second seed Caroline Wozniacki, however, retired with a left knee injury after surrendering the first set 6-4 to Kiki Bertens.
The Dane also lost her opening match a week ago in Montreal, following a second-round defeat at Wimbledon.
Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber, the fourth seed, claimed her 40th win of the season, but she had to recover from a set down and needed two chances to serve for a 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory over Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
US Open champion Sloane Stephens bucked the upset trend, winning easily into the third round 6-3, 6-2 over German qualifier Tatjana Maria.
In the men’s draw, Novak Djokovic battled stomach issues to beat Adrian Mannarino and reach the third round. The Wimbledon champion called for the doctor during the second set but put aside his discomfort to progress 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 over the Frenchman before rain halted afternoon play for nearly three hours.
Fifth seed Grigor Dimitrov launched his title defense with a 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 win over Mischa Zverev, the Bulgarian belting 33 winners in a match that started late.
Marin Cilic, the 2016 men’s champion, beat Romanian Marius Copil 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-4, but third-seeded Alexander Zverev, younger brother of Mischa, was upset 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 by Dutch veteran Robin Haase.
Wimbledon finalist Kevin Anderson beat Jeremy Chardy 7-6 (8/6), 6-2 while Canadian Milos Raonic advanced over Malek Jaziri of Tunisia 6-3, 7-5.
Three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka continued his return after knee surgery a year ago, beating Kei Nishikori 6-4, 6-4.
Nick Kyrgios shook off a dismal second set to beat Croatian Borna Coric 7-6 (7/1), 0-6, 6-3.