The ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati continues with Round of 16 action on Wednesday, featuring world number one Jannik Sinner and several intriguing match-ups. While weather delays pushed some Tuesday matches to today's schedule, including Alexander Zverev's near-complete victory and Ben Shelton's clash with Roberto Bautista Agut, the focus shifts to the upper half of the draw where the Italian top seed headlines the day's play alongside Taylor Fritz, Felix Auger-Aliassime, and an exciting showdown between Frances Tiafoe and Holger Rune.
Sinner vs. Mannarino
Jannik Sinner is about to play his third match in Cincinnati, competing against the experienced Frenchman who has already delivered two upsets in the Western & Southern Open this week. The 37-year-old veteran needed to scrape through the main draw from the qualifiers field, having already 5 matches under his belt here. The two recent wins are valuable victories for Mannarino, who defeated Tomas Machac in comfortable straight sets and world number 16 Tommy Paul. He was quite an underdog according to odds in the match against the American, being rated at 3.51. This was the only match in Cincinnati this week where he lost a set, coming back from losing the first one to win 5-7 6-3 6-4. Mannarino won 21 out of 29 pressure points on serve, including 6 out of 8 breakpoints defended.
The world number one played a closer tie than expected against 30th seed Gabriel Diallo. After the one-way traffic performance in the first round against Daniel Elahi Galan, this match was much more competitive for the Italian who returned to compete on hard courts 7 months after winning the Australian Open. Diallo had his chances, especially from the start, gaining an early break. Sinner raised his level throughout the match and faced just 11 pressure points (most of them at the start of the first set). It was not the cleanest performance from Sinner who had both 20 winners and 20 unforced errors. His opponent was way more erratic with as many as 50 errors, but still managed to stay in contention in the second set up until the tiebreak. The Canadian was even up with a minibreak, but lost his momentum again, as Sinner sealed the win 6-4 7-6(6).
Fritz vs. Atmane
Taylor Fritz checked into the Round of 16 after a comprehensive performance against Lorenzo Sonego. The American won 7-6(4) 7-5 against the Italian who really did his best to match his opponent's level, but had nothing to say against the well-performing Fritz on that day. The world number 4 scored 13 aces and an excellent 25 winners compared to just 11 unforced errors. Sonego was also on a positive note (18 vs 15), but the effectiveness of Fritz's striking on the return of the Italian's second serve was crucial - the American won as much as 45% there. He won all 6 pressure points on his own serve as well and did not allow his opponent to create a single breakpoint.
It's tough to see any chances for qualifier Terence Atmane in the match-up against this well-playing Fritz. It's another Frenchman in the Round of 16 line-up, who has already earned good memories in Cincinnati. The current world number 136 scored two consecutive upsets against Flavio Cobolli and Joao Fonseca, being rated with odds of 3.46 and 3.75 respectively before both matches. He served at least 7 aces in each of the matches since the start of qualies, however another upset is very unlikely here.
Auger-Aliassime vs. Bonzi
Felix Auger-Aliassime approached Cincinnati after a disappointing early exit on home soil in Toronto, which was his 4th defeat in the last 5 matches played on that surface. The Canadian recovered well against lower-ranked opponents, still yet to lose a set. The match against Arthur Rinderknech ended prematurely with the Frenchman pulling out during the scoreline of 7-6(4) 4-2 from FAA's perspective. This was a scary moment, as Rinderknech collapsed due to the extreme heat conditions which have nagged the players throughout the week in Cincinnati.
Another Frenchman will be his opponent, as Benjamin Bonzi has surprisingly won three matches in the main draw, scoring upsets over names like Lorenzo Musetti and Stefanos Tsitsipas, with each of his matches ending in tight three sets. Bonzi stood out with excellent resilience while facing breakpoints. He defended all 10 against Matteo Arnaldi, 9/14 against Musetti, and 5/6 against Tsitsipas, being quite an underdog against all his opponents so far (odds of 2.79, 3.27, and 2.60).
Tiafoe vs. Rune
Frances Tiafoe passed the test which looked like a tough one on paper, playing against Ugo Humbert in the previous round. The world number 25 was looking like someone who could make some trouble on serve for the American, who successfully neutralized the weapons of his opponent. He created multiple chances for himself, having 12 breakpoints on return, faced just two on his own serve and scored 8 aces, winning 6-4 6-4. 10 out of 13 pressure points won is also a good stat from Tiafoe in that match. The next stop is the most exciting match-up of Wednesday, as Tiafoe faces world number 9 Holger Rune. The Dane has already won a hot match in the previous round, eliminating the revelation of the Canadian Masters - Alex Michelsen, winning 7-6(4) 6-3. He scored 9 aces there, so the clash against Tiafoe could also deliver a great serve-bombing fest.
Shelton and Zverev in Action
Due to severe weather which tormented the later parts of Tuesday's schedule, two matches are still yet to be completed, both from the bottom half of the draw. The new ATP 1000 champion from Toronto, Ben Shelton, plays Roberto Bautista Agut in a match which was rescheduled from yesterday. Alexander Zverev was very close to getting the job done, but his match against Brandon Nakashima got suspended with possibly just one game pending - the German was about to serve for victory at 6-4 5-4. The action resumes today, but it's most likely to be very short.