Cincinnati (AFP) – Defending champions Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka booked quarter-final berths at the rain-hit ATP-WTA Cincinnati Open on Wednesday with straight-set wins. Sinner shrugged off a mid-match rain interruption lasting nearly three hours as he advanced with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) victory over Adrian Mannarino. He next faces Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime, who beat Benjamin Bonzi of France 6-4, 6-3.
Sabalenka, taken to three sets in her previous match with Emma Raducanu, defeated Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro 6-1, 7-5, winning a season-leading 50th match of 2025 and reaching her 29th career last-eight at the elite 1000 level. Sabalenka had to work after surrendering a second-set break, but she broke Bouzas Maneiro in the final game to seal the victory. “The key was to focus and put as much pressure as possible on her serve,” Sabalenka said. “I was up a break, made a couple of mistakes and she broke me back. I’m glad to win in straight sets – I didn’t want to stay for three hours.”
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World number one Sinner, playing his first tournament since lifting the trophy at Wimbledon, notched his 24th consecutive hardcourt match win to gain his fifth quarter-final of the season. The victory required patience, with the Italian, who turns 24 on Saturday, passing some of the afternoon weather pause by playing cards with his team. Sinner had won the first set, and they were on serve in the second when they returned, but Frenchman’s tricky game took a toll as Sinner was broken while trying to serve out the match. The second set instead went to a tiebreak, with the Italian firing his 11th and 12th aces to clinch victory. “He’s a very difficult opponent, different from the other players,” Sinner said. “He can read the opponent well. It was a struggle to close it out, but I’m happy to be in the quarter-finals.”
Earlier, former champion Alexander Zverev polished off a weather-hit third-round victory, winning the final four points of a 6-4, 6-4 win over Brandon Nakashima. The entire one-game exercise, with 2021 Cincy winner Zverev leading 6-4, 5-4 when play resumed, took less than two minutes, with the third seed set for a later fourth-round encounter against Toronto finalist Karen Khachanov. Fifth seed Ben Shelton, last week’s Toronto winner, reached the fourth round with a 7-6 (7/3), 6-3, victory over Roberto Bautista Agut in a match rescheduled from Tuesday.
– Swiatek advances –
Women’s third seed Iga Swiatek and men’s seventh seed Holger Rune both booked quarter-final berths before afternoon showers struck. Wimbledon champion Swiatek beat Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 6-3, overcoming 33 unforced errors in a 95-minute victory. “I wanted to be more solid than in my last match,” Swiatek said. “I’m happy with the level of my focus and the consistency.”
Rune advanced as 2024 finalist Frances Tiafoe retired with lower back pain while Denmark’s Rune was up 6-4, 3-1. The match was a re-run of a quarter-final here a year ago, won by the American who went on to fall to Sinner in the final. Tiafoe received treatment on his back but it didn’t seem to help as Rune gained control. The American walked dejectedly off court, carrying only a pair of shoes while an official carted away his massive tennis bag. Rune, bothered this season by his own injury worries, secured his 100th career hard-court win and his first defeat of a top 20 opponent since he beat Carlos Alcaraz in the Barcelona final in April.
In another match interrupted on Tuesday, Magda Linette reached the fourth round at Cincinnati for the first time with a 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-3 upset of fourth-seeded American Jessica Pegula.
© 2024 AFP
