The Cincinnati Open barely had time to get underway before the National Bank Open had even crowned its champion, with Ben Shelton lifting the Montreal trophy on Thursday night while first-round matches in Ohio were already being played.
Just another example of how awkward the ATP’s expanded two-week Masters 1000 schedule has become.
Having one Masters final take place on a Thursday while the next event is already underway feels disjointed, and it leaves fans in the strange position of following two different Masters tournaments simultaneously.
As for the tennis, Day One in Cincinnati was relatively low-key with all 32 seeds receiving byes, but there was still an upset as Martin Landaluce extended Jack Draper’s miserable run.
Cameron Norrie battled through a tricky opener, and Thiago Agustín Tirante earned himself a second-round meeting with Novak Djokovic.
Day One Cincinnati Open Round of 128 Results
Key Match Recap
Martin Landaluce def. Jack Draper 6-3, 7-5
Martin Landaluce produced the standout result of the opening day, defeating Jack Draper in straight sets to continue the Briton’s difficult season.
Landaluce was the more composed player throughout, but the second set looked destined for a decider when Draper surged into a 5-2 lead.
Somehow, the Spaniard saved six set points across the next three games before Draper’s level completely deserted him. That’s what happens when you’re short on matches/confidence, as you just don’t have that muscle memory of closing out sets.
The Briton finished with 12 double faults and almost 50 unforced errors, continuing what has become a miserable run since returning from injury.
What next for Draper, should he drop down a level to get some match wins? He was scheduled to play the Brownsburg Challenger this week before Cincy gave him a wild card.
Cameron Norrie def. Dino Prizmic 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
Cameron Norrie recovered from a sluggish start to overcome Croatian Dino Prizmic and reach the second round.
Fresh from his fourth-round run in Montreal, Norrie admitted he wasn’t feeling at his physical best, but even at sub-100 %, his physicality is top tier, and after dropping the opening set, he gradually wore Prizmic down in the oppressive Cincinnati conditions.
The Brit now faces top seed Alexander Zverev with the German holding a 7-0 Tour-level record in their rivalry.
Thiago Agustín Tirante def. Jan Choinski 7-6(9), 6-7(7), 7-6(4)
Thiago Agustín Tirante survived one of the matches of the day in a contest that required three tie-breaks.
The Argentine missed a match point in the second-set breaker but refused to let the disappointment derail him, recovering from 1-4 down in the deciding tie-break by reeling off seven consecutive points to finally seal victory.
His reward is about as tough as it gets: a second-round meeting with three-time Cincinnati champion Novak Djokovic.
Rinky Hijikata def. Gaël Monfils 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-3
Rinky Hijikata ended Gaël Monfils’ Cincinnati career after fighting back from a set down.
Monfils, who will hang up the racket at the end of this season, looked on course for one last victory at the event before Hijikata turned the match around by edging a tight second-set tie-break.
Following the match, tournament organisers paid tribute to the Frenchman, who made his 14th and final appearance in Cincinnati after more than two decades of entertaining fans.
Other Matches of Note
Denis Shapovalov made an encouraging start with a comfortable 6-1, 6-4 victory over Adrian Mannarino and now faces in-form Rafael Jódar. No signs of the foot problem that saw his Montreal stint cut short.
Terence Atmane progressed after Márton Fucsovics was forced to retire early in the opening set.
Mariano Navone defeated Raphaël Collignon 6-3, 7-6(3), while Miomir Kecmanović eased past Camilo Ugo Carabelli 6-3, 6-3 to set up a meeting with Flavio Cobolli.
Highlights
Cincinnati Open Day Two Round of 128 Matches
- Kyrian Jacquet (Q) vs Adolfo Daniel Vallejo
- Titouan Droguet (Q) vs Matteo Berrettini
- Yannick Hanfmann vs Luca Van Assche (Q)
- J.J. Wolf (Q) vs James Duckworth
- Vit Kopriva vs Quentin Halys (Q)
- Alex Michelsen vs Jesper de Jong
- Daniel Merida vs Marin Cilic (WC)
- Botic van de Zandschulp vs Tallon Griekspoor
- Christopher O’Connell (Q) vs Kamil Majchrzak
- Tomas Machac vs Pablo Carreno Busta
- Nuno Borges vs Thanasi Kokkinakis (PR)
- Aleksandar Kovacevic vs Karen Khachanov
- Hamad Medjedovic vs Marco Trungelliti (Q)
- Jaime Faria (Q) vs Jenson Brooksby
- Adam Walton vs Nicolas Mejia (Q)
- Fabian Marozsan vs Michael Zheng (Q)
- Coleman Wong (Q) vs Daniel Altmaier
- Sebastian Baez vs Grigor Dimitrov (WC)
- Juncheng Shang (PR) vs Lorenzo Sonego
- Mark Lajal (Q) vs Juan Manuel Cerundolo
