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Reuters
Rafa Nadal became the first Spaniard since losing the Wimbledon semifinals due to injury after losing 7-6(9) 4-6 6-3 to Borna Coric at the Cincinnati Open on Wednesday. In preparation for the big-hitting U.S. Open.
The 22-time Grand Slam winner was hoping to play as many games as possible after returning from an abdominal injury, but a loss to Croatia saw him flushing. It was decided to head to his Meadows.
Taylor Fritz beat Australia's Nick Kyrgios with his 6-3 6-2 victory while Cameron Nollie fought back to beat former world No. 1 Andy Murray 3-6 6-3 6- I broke it at 4. British showdown.
Coric, returning to the Tour after a long absence for her shoulder surgery in March after an hour-long rain delay, bites her nails. Edged the tiebreaker to get the opener. Each player was saving her two set points.
With the crowd firmly behind Nadal, the 36-year-old broke former world No. 12 Coric's serve midway through the second set to seal the contest. returned to
However, Coric, currently ranked 152nd in the world, was the only left-handed serve to break and take his 4-2 lead, going inside out on his points in the first match in the third round. 's forehand cemented his position by scoring his winner. 2 hours and 51 minutes later. ``It was very, very special'' after defeating his third-ranked Nadal, who won the Australian Open and French Open titles in an injury-plagued season, Coric said. rice field.
"I was looking forward to this match because I haven't been able to do it for the last two years. Now that I won, it's kind of crazy.
35} Coric next faced another Spaniard named Roberto Bautista Agut, defeating home hope Marcos Giron 6-3 6-3.19-year-old Ben Shelton is ranked 5 in the world.
A day after beating Lorenzo Sonego, Rank 229 Shelton beat Ruud in just 68 minutes.
America's No. 1 Fritz served 16 aces to beat Kyrgios, and the Australian hit seven. Just six double faults offset most of them.
Fritz, the 11th seed, is 2nd to Kyrgios since losing to Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final. It took just 51 minutes to deliver a second defeat.
Fritz's dominance on serve prevented Kyrgios from taking a single break chance, but he was 24 years old. The American made three of his seven chances.
"I feel great playing my game today," Fritz said. "It's the kind of match that I really needed to give me a lot of confidence going into the next match, the US Open. A lot of things are definitely going well."
Fritz said. Next, he faces No. 6 seed Andrei Rublev, who beat Italy's Fabio Fognini 6-7(7) 7-6(3) 6-2.
Fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece) advanced to the third round with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Serbia's Filip Krajinovic, but finished runners-up in Montreal on Sunday. Champion Pole Hubert Hurkacz lost to his doubles partner this week. , John Isner, USA, 7-6(5) 6-7(5) 6-2.
It was a good day for Canada as seventh seed Felix Auger his Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov scored the win.
Auger-Aliassime overtook Australia's Alex De Minaur with his 6-3 6-2, while Shapovalov beat in-form American Tommy Paul with his 3-6 6-4 6-3. , recorded a winning streak. First time since May.
Shapovalov next faces world No. 1 Daniil Medvedev, while Auger-Aliassime faces Italy's Janik Sinner. (Reporting by his Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai and Steve Keating in Toronto; Editing by Ed Osmond/Peter Rutherford)
