Auger-Aliassime, Shapovalov rally into 3rd round of Cincinnati Open

Montreal's Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., moved on to the third round of the Western & Southern Open Masters-level tennis tournament with wins Wednesday.

Auger-Aliassime, the seventh seed, advanced comfortably with 6-3, 6-2 win over Australia's Alex de Minaur.

Shapovalov joined his friend and compatriot later with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over American Tommy Paul. Next up for Shapovalov will be world No. 1 Daniil Medvedev of Russia.

Auger-Aliassime overcame 17 unforced errors and won 71 per cent of service points and 48 per cent of return points in a match that took one hour 18 minutes to complete.

WATCH | Auger-Aliassime cruises past de Minaur:

Auger-Aliassime advances to the round of 16 in Cincinnati

2 years ago

Duration 2:44

Montreal's Felix Auger-Aliassime downed Australia's Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-2 to advance at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.

It was the first meeting on the ATP Tour between Auger-Aliassime and world No. 20 de Minaur. They split a pair of matches at the Challenger level, with Auger-Aliassime winning in the quarter-final of a 2017 tournament in Drummondville, Que., and de Minaur coming out on top the next year in the quarter-finals at Braga, Portugal.

Auger-Aliassime had nine aces in Wednesday's match to three for de Minaur, and converted four of his six break points while saving break point three of four times.

Auger-Aliassime, ranked ninth in the world, rebounded after a 6-1, 6-2 loss to Casper Ruud last week in the quarterfinals of the National Bank Open in Montreal.

"I never thought it would be ending like this today," he said after that match.

Auger-Aliassime will next face 10th seed Jannik Sinner of Italy, who was up 7-5, 3-1 on Miomir Kecmanovic when the Serb retired.

Shapovalov had 10 double faults and 30 unforced errors in his match. But he got timely breaks when he needed them, including a crucial break in Game 2 of the third set.

It was Shapovalov's first win over Paul. The American had won two previous matches against, including the final of a 2021 tournament in Stockholm.

Shapovalov is 2-2 in four previous matches against Medvedev, with the Russian claiming the most recent two matches. They have not faced each other since Medvedev's 6-4, 6-0 at the Laver Cup in September, 2021.

WATCH | Shapovalov completes comeback against Paul:

Racket smash sparks Shapovalov rally into round of 16 in Cincinnati

2 years ago

Duration 3:25

Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., rallied to a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over American Tommy Paul in the second round of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. It's the first time Shapovalov has reached the third round of a tournament since the Italian Open in May.

Coric ousts Nadal

Borna Coric spoiled Rafael Nadal's return from a six-week layoff, beating the Spanish star 7-6 (9), 4-6, 6-3 on Wednesday night.

The winner of a men's record 22 Grand Slam championships, including two this year, hadn't played since July 6 after an abdominal tear forced him to withdraw from a semifinal match against Nick Kyrgios at Wimbledon. He was hoping to start putting the final touches on prepping for the upcoming U.S. Open.

The second-seeded and third-ranked Nadal, 36, showed no signs of the injury that mostly plagued his serve. He reached 121 mph with one serve and needed several awkward body movements to return some of Coric's shots.

The match lasted 2 hours, 51 minutes, not including a rain delay of 1 hour, 25 minutes in the first set.

In an all-English men's second-round match, 11th-ranked Cameron Norrie outlasted three-time Grand Slam-champion Andy Murray 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Also, Taylor Fritz beat Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios 6-3, 6-2, and 19-year-old wild-card Ben Shelton upset fifth-ranked Casper Ruud. Shelton is the youngest American to defeat a top-five opponent since Andy Roddick beat No. 1 Gustavo Kuerten in 2001.

Raducanu tops Azarenka

Earlier in women's play, U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu routed Victoria Azarenka 6-0, 6-2.

The 19-year-old Raducanu won the final seven games against Serena Williams on Tuesday and the first 10 against Azarenka. Seeded 13th, Raducanu set up a match against No. 8 Jessica Pegula.

Sixth-ranked Simona Halep withdrew because of a right thigh injury before facing Veronica Kudermetova. Halep won last week in Toronto.

World number one Iga Swiatek beat former U.S. Open winner Sloane Stephens 6-4 7-5 to start her campaign at the WTA 1000 tournament, the last big tune-up event before the hardcourt major kicks off in New York.

It was a Tour-leading 50th win of the season for two-time French Open champion Swiatek, who will meet Madison Keys in the third round after the American beat Jelena Ostapenko 6-4 7-5.

Venus Williams, Dominic Thiem into U.S. Open

Venus Williams will be back in the U.S. Open this year after being given a wild card on Wednesday into what could be younger sister Serena's final tournament.

Venus Williams won back-to-back U.S. Opens in 2000 and 2001, and this year marks 25 years since she reached the 1997 final in Flushing Meadows as a 17-year-old in her first full season on tour.

Now 42, Williams did not play in the U.S. Open last year because of injury, but the seven-time Grand Slam singles champion recently returned to tour after missing nearly a year.

Dominic Thiem, the 2020 U.S. Open men's champion who has since dealt with injuries and fallen to No. 228 in the world ranking, also was granted a wild card by the U.S. Tennis Association.

The USTA also gave a wild card to Sofia Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion who didn't compete in New York last year because of injury, along with fellow Americans CoCo Vandeweghe, Elizabeth Mandlik, Peyton Stearns and Eleana Yu.

Harmony Tan of France — who beat Serena Williams during a run to the fourth round at Wimbledon — and Australian Jaimee Fourlis also received wild cards.

On the men's side, wild cards went to Americans Sam Querrey, Emilio Nava, JJ Wolf, Ben Shelton and Learner Tien, along with Ugo Humbert of France and Australian Rinky Hijikata.

Also Wednesday, 2016 U.S. Open semifinalist Gael Monfils withdrew because of an injury to his right foot sustained last week during his match against Jack Draper in Montreal. 

Taro Daniel of Japan moved into the main draw.