The hottest American on the ATP Tour right now is also the quietest.
But Brandon Nakashima is letting his big serve and forehand do the talking this summer.
After a run to the final in Montreal last week, the No. 27 seed wiped away three match points and rallied to upset fourth-seeded Daniil Medvedev of Russia 6-7 (3), 7-6 (4), 6-1 on Tuesday at the Cincinnati Open in Mason, Ohio.
Nakashima trailed 4-5, love-40 in the second set, but ripped off four straight service points before winning the game on his second attempt. He earned three points on his foe’s serve in the subsequent tiebreaker, which seemed to break Medvedev’s spirit and brightened Nakashima’s.
He cruised in the decider, winning the match in two hours, 51 minutes.
“Down match points, I was just trying to tell myself to keep fighting for every point,” Nakashima said in his on-court interview. “If he’s able to close it out there, then too good. I just kept fighting and managed to get it to a third set. I’m super happy with the level in the third.”
The laid-back Californian, who also reached the semifinals in Washington last month, has knocked off top-20 players Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic, Australia’s Alex de Minaur, Spain’s Rafael Jodar and now Medvedev over the past three weeks.
Nakashima served up eight aces to only one double fault and benefited from Medvedev’s 51 unforced errors. He also excelled at the net, earning points on 21 of 27 (77.8%) trips.
Nakashima will take on Portugal’s Nuno Borges in the fourth round. Borges upset 13th-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev 6-3, 6-4. In a match played from the baselines, Borges made fewer mistakes than Rublev, recording 18 winners and 19 unforced errors compared to 15 winners and 24 errors by the Russian.
No. 2 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada swept Argentina’s Juan Manuel Cerundolo 7-5, 6-1 in 87 minutes to advance into the Round of 16. After coming away with the first break of the match to clinch the first set, he won the first five games of the second set to effectively end the match.
He’ll next face No. 17 Frances Tiafoe, who held off No. 16 Learner Tien for a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win in a battle of Americans to cap off the day’s action.
Sixth-seeded Taylor Fritz moved on, knocking out fast-rising Spaniard Daniel Merida 6-3, 6-4. Fritz will face Australian qualifier Christopher O’Connell in the fourth round. O’Connell advanced when No. 23 Joao Fonseca of Brazil bowed out due to injury.
Michael Zheng could not pull off another American upset, as the qualifier fell to 10th-seeded Lorenzo Musetti of Italy 6-1, 6-3.
Musetti will face another Portuguese player to make the round of 16. Jaime Faria, who knocked off Montreal winner Ben Shelton in the second round, edged Australia’s Adam Walton 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3) in the final match of the afternoon session.
Faria jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the deciding tiebreaker and never trailed.
–Field Level Media
