The ATP 1000 Western & Southern in Cincinnati has already delivered some early upsets in the opening stages, as a few big names – including two world top 10 players – failed to pass their kick-off matches in the Round of 64. Let's sweep through the recap of the opening round for seeded players and take a look at what to expect from the match-ups in the Round of 32.
The comeback of the top two – contrast in style and substance
The comeback to competition of the two best players in the world right now was the most exciting topic ahead of the start in Cincy. Jannik Sinner was about to play his first match on hard courts since January’s Australian Open, while Carlos Alcaraz had also decided to play only in Cincinnati before the US Open – both having a few weeks of rest after competing in the Wimbledon final against each other.
This comeback turned out quite different on both sides. Sinner faced the qualifier Daniel Elahi Galan, ranked 144th in the ATP rankings. It was a one-way traffic match and the quickest Sinner victory this year, as he moved through with a 6-1 6-1 score after just one hour of play. It was a clean match from Sinner, who scored 17 winners while committing just 4 unforced errors. 4 was also the number of pressure points faced on serve – including just one breakpoint, which was saved. 22 out of 23 first serve points won is also an impressive stat from the world number one.
Carlos Alcaraz was facing Damir Dzumhur, also being a banker favorite, and also starting from the front foot, winning the opening set 6-1. The start was not clean for the Spaniard though, and as it worsened in the second set with the level raised up by his opponent, the experienced 33-year-old Dzumhur surprisingly forced the decider by winning 6-2. Alcaraz took control of the third set, but Dzumhur came back level on serve in the 7th game. There were no more emotions though, as Alcaraz won the last two games and survived a shaky start, having committed as many as 44 unforced errors and winning just 68% of points on first serve as well. Dzumhur did not help himself at all in the decisive games, while the huge upset was closer than anyone could expect.
Opelka upsets De Minaur – rare break seals the deal
Alex De Minaur got surprisingly eliminated by Reilly Opelka in a match that was expected to be a clash of styles. The bomb-serving American defeated his favorized opponent despite being rated at 4.35 before the match – an outcome that, if replayed ten times, probably wouldn’t happen again.
It was obvious that Opelka would try to hit as many aces as possible, and he did so – with 14 on his account – though he was far from being untouchable on serve. De Minaur created 20 pressure points and 7 breakpoints on the serve of the 27-year-old. Opelka managed to erase all of the latter – six of them in the first set, which ended in a tiebreak.
The much more unusual things happened on the Aussie’s serve. His opponent managed to create just 5 pressure points, winning only two – but one of them was the only breakpoint he produced in the whole match, and the decisive one in the second set. The former world number 17, who’s coming back to competition after struggling with injuries, scored his second win over a top 10 player in 2025 after making a huge upset over Novak Djokovic in Brisbane in January (when Djokovic was rated at 1.05). The win against the current Washington champion and Toronto quarterfinalist will be one to remember, given the on-court circumstances.
Italians crash out to French resistance
Lorenzo Musetti is still far from adapting to compete on hard courts at the level of his abilities from clay. The world number 10 got a very formidable match-up right from the start – facing Benjamin Bonzi, who came to Cincinnati after seven consecutive losses on hard courts in the ATP Tour (excluding Challengers, where he had just 2 wins in 4 matches). This match delivered quite a high quality on paper, with 37 winners from Musetti compared to just 14 unforced errors. The Frenchman was also on a positive note there (31–21), and the match was an exciting one – settled in a tiebreak after 2:50 hours of play. Despite excellent stats and 11 aces served as well, Musetti was defeated by the world number 63, who won 5-7 6-4 7-6(4).
It was not a good round for the aspiring Italians in their match-ups against French players. Flavio Cobolli – the 15th seed – played against qualifier Terence Atmane (ATP #136). After being close to pulling off an upset against the eventual champion Ben Shelton in the Round of 16 in Toronto, where he was serving for the match and lost in a third-set tiebreak, another disappointment came here against Atmane. The Italian had a break advantage in the decisive set, but lost his second consecutive match in the 13th game of the third set.
Medvedev’s collapse leads to biggest upset of the round
The biggest upset on paper so far – and the most unexpected turnaround – was the defeat of Daniil Medvedev. The former world number one was a banker favorite against Adam Walton. Medvedev started the match very well, coming back from a break down to force a winning tiebreak in the first set, where he scored 11 aces and hit 20 winners.
The turnaround came in the second set, where the Russian was putting immense pressure on the world number 88 – especially in the 5th game, where he created but wasted 3 breakpoints. Unexpectedly, from there, Walton gained his first break of the match in the 10th game, which forced a decisive set. Medvedev was still playing well up to that point – with 36 winners compared to 22 unforced errors – but he seemed diminished by the fact that the match was suddenly level despite him having been the dominant force. His level dropped massively at the start of the third set, where Walton gained an early advantage and never let it go, winning 6-7(4) 6-4 6-1 after a one-sided final set – a scrappy one from Medvedev.
Fokina retires again after blowing massive lead
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina is going through a really tough time in recent days. It’s a good season for the Spaniard, who was runner-up three times – in Delray Beach and in Washington two weeks ago.
Fokina withdrew in the third set of his match against Andrey Rublev in Toronto just six days before the start in Cincinnati. The world number 18 was suffering cramps and left the court while being down in the decisive set. It looked like he was affected by the demanding schedule after playing in Washington just before the Toronto Masters.
The Cincy Open’s kick-off looked good for him though – he won the first set against Joao Fonseca and had a massive lead in the second set, being 4-0 up (and even 30-0 in his following service game). Then, the Spaniard looked like a marathon runner hitting the wall – he was non-existent on court from that point on. Fonseca won five games in a row before Fokina ended his second consecutive match prematurely – which looked really worrying.
Toronto semifinalists ease into action
Those who succeeded with deep runs in Toronto last week kicked off their Cincy campaign without any special trouble. Three of the semifinalists from the Canadian Masters played their first matches on Sunday. New ATP 1000 champion Ben Shelton was in a comfortable lead when his opponent, Camilo Ugo Carabelli, grasped his knee in the 5th game of the second set and was forced to retire. Alexander Zverev and Karen Khachanov scored comfortable straight-set wins against lower-ranked opponents, just as Toronto runner-up Taylor Fritz did – having played on Saturday, being placed in the top half of the draw.
Round of 32: Sinner headlines as top half returns
The Round of 32 will be played on Monday and Tuesday. The top half starts today, with Jannik Sinner playing his second match – this time facing 30th seed Gabriel Diallo.
The Americans are featured in three exciting matches worth watching. 4th seed Taylor Fritz meets Lorenzo Sonego and is favored to make another deep run. 10th seed Frances Tiafoe plays against Ugo Humbert, who seems to be the have a really strong chances, looking at his serving performance compared to Tiafoe – despite the latter being a slight odds favorite. The revelation of the last ATP 1000 in Toronto – Alex Michelsen – sets up possibly the most intriguing match-up against 7th seed Holger Rune.
Let's keep an eye on TennisRatio.com to follow the further recaps and previews from Cincinnati. You can check out our pre-event article with main draw preview containing heatmaps for each quarter, still relevant for all the action to come soon.