Who is the favorite to capture the U.S. Open men’s title?
Italy’s Jannik Sinner and Spain’s Carlos Alcarez have not competed on the hard courts this summer. Novak Djokovic was eliminated in the first round of the Cincinnati Open last week and has only played 21 matches this year.
And, on Wednesday, in Mason, Ohio, top-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany put a lid on his subpar pre-U.S. Open prep by falling, 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4 to 18th-seeded Tommy Paul — before second-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime also lost later on in the evening, dropping a match to No. 17 Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 6-4.
Paul will advance to his first Cincinnati Open quarterfinal and face seventh-seeded Italian Flavio Cobolli, who also rallied to eliminate his foe, Spain’s No. 12 seed Rafael Jodar by a count of 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3.
Tiafoe’s fate is similar: he’ll face No. 10 Italian Lorenzo Musetti, who took care of Portugal’s Jamie Faria 7-5, 6-2.
Paul, who improved to 3-1 vs. Zverev, trailed 4-6, 4-3 entering a near-90-minute rain delay and faced a match point in the second-set tiebreaker. But Zverev netted a forehand to knot the tiebreaker at 6-6. Paul won the next point and returned Zverev’s serve to the baseline, where the German found the net once again.
The French Open champion recovered and took a 4-2 third set lead, only to see Paul rattle off the last four games. At 4-4, 30-0, Paul won four consecutive points on the Zverev serve and, after the changeover, won the final game in five points.
“Not really sure,” Paul quipped when asked how he changed the fortunes of the match. “I guess just put some returns in. He gave me a couple of looks at second serves and a couple of doubles there, that helped me out a ton. Then I was just going after the ball a little bit more, going after the second (serve) a little bit more. And I’m having fun out here, having fun.”
Paul was able to win 15 of 32 (46.9%) second-return points on Zverev’s serve in the match.
Zverev lost to Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor in the first round at Montreal two weeks ago.
Cobolli also turned around his fortunes in the second set tiebreaker, winning three of Jodar’s final four service points to send the match to a deciding third set. Cobolli then broke the 19-year old in the sixth game of the final set and kept his nose in front the rest of the way.
“I just (told) myself to believe, to fight in every point, and I knew I would get a chance,” Cobolli said after the match. “Rafa, I think he played an incredible season, an incredible week, so I think he felt a little tired at the beginning of the second. Still, I think the level was really high and in the third set, I pushed (myself) to the limit.”
The players combined for 99 errors, but Cobolli edged Jodar in winners 33-26.
In a nightcap, Auger-Aliassime — the highest-remaining seed — dominated on aces 13-2, but he also suffered four double faults and a whopping 37 unforced errors. Tiafoe leveraged those mistakes into a victory, improving his lifetime record against the Canadian to 2-3.
It was a wild day, as two other early matches featured upsets. France’s No. 21 Arthur Fils compounded No. 5 Australian Alex de Minaur’s misery this summer, taking him out 6-3, 6-4, while unseeded Argentine Thiago Agustin Tirante dismissed Czech No. 14 Jakub Mensik, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
Tirante has wins over top-10 players Taylor Fritz (Montreal) and Djokovic (Cincinnati) over the past two weeks.
In other nightcap action, No. 6 Fritz avoided the upset bug against Aussie qualifier Christopher O’Connell, winning 6-4, 6-3, and No. 27 Brandon Nakashima emerged from a lengthy contest with Nuno Borges of Portugal, winning 6-3, 6-7 (7), 6-3.
–Field Level Media
