Novak Djokovic wins, Daniil Medvedev cruises through, Casper Ruud and Holger Rune out at Cincinnati Masters
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Updated 17/08/2023 at 15:00 GMT
There were wins for Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev at the Cincinnati Masters over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Lorenzo Musetti respectively. Casper Ruud lost in a decisive set to Australia's Max Purcell, while Sinner was beaten in straight sets by Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic. There was also frustration for Holger Rune, who pulled out of his clash with Mackenzie McDonald due to a back injury.
Djokovic advances after Davidovich Fokina retires in Cincinnati
Novak Djokovic marked his US return with victory over Spain's Alejandro Davidovich Fokina at the Cincinnati Open.
The world No. 2 won the first set 6-4, before Davidovich Fokina was forced to retire after succumbing to a back issue.
Djokovic is now allowed to compete in the States after rules against unvaccinated travellers were eased earlier this year, as he completed his first match in Cincinnati for four years.
Speaking after the victory, he said: "Time flies. Four years seems like it was yesterday. It's definitely nice to be back.
"I've had some really nice memories from this tournament.
"Winning it in 2018 obviously is a highlight for me, because it was the only Masters I hadn't won for years. I think I lost four or five finals, mostly to Roger [Federer].
"But I played well in the past and was really glad to have a chance to come back to the States. It's been two years - I missed it. Some of the biggest tournaments in our sport are played on American soil. I'm just excited to play some tennis."
The Serb will now prepare for a last-16 match against Frenchman Gael Monfils, which takes place in the early hours of Friday morning UK time.
Meanwhile, there was frustration for Holger Rune after being forced to retire from his first-round match against Mackenzie McDonald.
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Injured Rune retires as McDonald progresses to last 16 in Cincinnati
The world No. 5 was trailing 4-6 0-2, and was forced to withdraw due to a back issue. He received treatment from a physio, but could not continue after losing a five consecutive games from being 4-3 up in the first set.
McDonald can now prepare for a second-round clash against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino later on Thursday.
Daniil Medvedev cruised through to the last 16 of the Cincinnati Masters in straight sets but Casper Ruud crashed out to Max Purcell.
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Medvedev cruises past Musetti to reach last 16 in Cincinnati
Medvedev wasted little time in dispatching Lorenzo Musetti for the second time in six days, having faced the Italian at last week’s Canadian Open.
Apart from losing his opening service game, Medvedev was never troubled, dominating behind his first serve and hitting 25 winners as he completed a 6-3 6-2 victory.
“I think it’s tough for anyone to be comfortable [quickly] here,” Medvedev said, in comments carried by ATPtour.com. “Tough conditions here, they changed the court.
“But then it comes [down] to being the better in the tough conditions, and that’s what I managed to do today.
“We both made some mistakes, we both made some double faults and stuff like this, but I managed to be a little bit better in important moments and actually I felt like I was playing better and better during the match. So that’s a positive thing for the next round.”
Medvedev won this event back in 2019 and takes on Alexander Zverev next after the German battled past Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka 7-5 6-4.
Zverev was forced to dig deep but eventually prevailed when he broke Nishioka late in the second and served out the straight-sets win.
Elsewhere, Ruud was stunned in three sets by Australia’s Purcell. The Norwegian fifth seed was punished for not taking his chances as Purcell closed out a 6-4 3-6 6-4 victory.
Ruud served well, firing 12 aces, but failed to produce in the game’s big moments and, crucially, only converted one of seven break points.
Contrastingly, Purcell was far more efficient, breaking his opponent’s serve twice from the three chances he was presented as he set up a last-16 clash with either Stan Wawrinka.
Wawrinka starred in his win over Frances Tiafoe, coming through 6-3 6-4.
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Vintage Wawrinka seals straight sets win over Tiafoe in Cincinnati
Jannik Sinner, last week’s winner in Toronto, also fell at the last-32 stage. Like Ruud, the Italian was poor when it mattered most, failing to convert any of his five break points in a straight-sets defeat to Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic.
Lajovic takes on American Taylor Fritz in the next round.
Another seed to fall was Holger Rune, who retired at a set and 2-0 down to Mackenzie McDonald.
There were no issues for Stefanos Tsitsipas, though. The Greek came through 7-6(3) 7-6(2) against Ben Shelton and Plays Hubert Hurkacz in the next round.
At the top of the draw, Tommy Paul beat France’s Ugo Humbert 6-1 7-6(4) to set up another intriguing showdown with Carlos Alcaraz, having beaten the world No. 1 in the Canadian Open last week.
Alcaraz survived a scare to scrape past Jordan Thompson in three sets and will now hope to avenge that defeat and build momentum ahead of his US Open defence.
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