Canada's Shapovalov falls to Nishikori in straight sets at Citi Open

Canadian Denis Shapovalov was ousted in straight sets 7-6 (1), 6-3 by Japan's Kei Nishikori in the third round of the Citi Open tennis tournament on Thursday.

Shapovalov, seeded ninth in Washington, struggled with inconsistency in the first set, managing to get in just 43 per cent of his first serves but winning 68 per cent of them. He also notched four aces and three double faults.

The teenager from Richmond Hill, Ont., lost the set in a tiebreaker to the seventh-seeded Nishikori.

Shapovalov's struggles continued in the second frame as he could only land 47 per cent of his first serves and was broken by Nishikori twice.

Shapovalov, who is ranked 26th in the world, finished with seven aces, six double faults and didn't manage a single break point.

The match was pushed to late Thursday evening after Rock Creek Park Tennis Center dealt with prolonged rain delays.

Sibling rivalry

Seems safe to say Alexander Zverev has never hugged an opponent quite the way he did after beating older brother Mischa 6-3, 7-5 to reach the Citi Open quarterfinals Thursday night in their first ATP main-draw match against each other.

Alexander, 21, is seeded No. 1 and the defending champion at the hard-court tuneup for the U.S. Open. Mischa, who turns 31 in a few weeks, was seeded No. 15. They had met twice before in qualifying matches, most recently in 2014, but never during the real rounds of a tournament.

"It was just fun," Mischa said. "That's all I can say."

The dynamics were a bit different from a usual match. They both know the other's on-court strengths and weaknesses so well. There wasn't much emotion from either man. And not much cheering from spectators, who maybe had a hard time picking which Zverev to pull for. Instead of using simply a last name to refer to a player, the normal practice, the chair umpire used first names, too. As in: "Game, Sascha Zverev," using Alexander's nickname.

The most interaction between the siblings came during a 15-minute rain delay in the second set, when they exchanged a few words about whether or not play should resume — and then when the last point arrived. Alexander hit a short shot that Mischa chased but put into the net. Mischa continued around to the other side and walked up to Alexander for a lengthy embrace.

They shared some words, then walked off the court together, and Mischa grabbed Alexander by the scruff of the neck.

This was not quite Zverev vs. Zverev in a Wimbledon final, as they had dreamed about and pretended to play a decade ago in their backyard. Still, it was a unique moment, with their father, Alexander Sr. — the man who taught both how to play tennis and coaches them to this day — sitting in a front-row seat in a corner of the stadium.

Isner exits

It was by far the most intriguing matchup on another dreary, rainy day, when play began about 3 1/2 hours late because of a shower.

A weary-looking John Isner hit serves in the low 90s mph and was broken twice in the opening set during a 6-4, 7-6 (6) loss to 152nd-ranked Noah Rubin in the second round. The No. 2-seeded Isner was coming off a title in Atlanta last week and a semifinal run at Wimbledon last month. Isner credited Rubin with having more energy.

Their all-American matchup was supposed to be played Wednesday, but was postponed because of a thunderstorm.

Rubin, whose right sneaker fell apart during a point in the second set, was scheduled to play his third-round match later Thursday against 16th seed Andrey Rublev.

Alex de Minaur eliminated No. 11 Steve Johnson 6-4, 7-5, and No. 10 Stefanos Tsisipas beat James Duckworth 6-3, 6-4.

In the women's draw, Nao Hibino withdrew before her match against No. 6 seed Belinda Bencic because of an injured abdominal muscle. Two-time major champion Svetlana Kuznetsova won, as did No. 7 seed Donna Vekic, who edged Fanny Stollar 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (13).