Printed On 20 Aug 2026
Prime seeds Aryna Sabalenka and Alexander Zverev crashed out of the Cincinnati Open in a matter of hours on a wet fourth-round day of motion.
American Tommy Paul saved a match level on the way in which to a 4-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 upset of Germany’s Zverev on Wednesday.
Beneficial Tales
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However the largest shock got here on the ladies’s facet, the place Czech Sara Bejlek, ranked thirty fifth, shocked world primary Sabalenka 7-6 (9/7), 6-4 in a gritty match that completed up shortly after the clock ticked previous midnight into Thursday morning.
Former champion Sabalenka led by a break within the opening set and was up 5-1 within the tiebreaker earlier than Bejlek roared again to pocket the set in 65 minutes.
Bejlek broke the Belarusian 3 times within the second set, rallying from 4-1 down and securing the win with a love recreation capped by an ace.
“I misplaced my phrases – it feels unbelievable,” Bejlek stated after her first win over a prime 10 participant.
“I used to be enjoying what I used to be feeling and not likely considering. I used to be making an attempt to not be nervous and simply play. I believed in myself it doesn’t matter what.”
Bejlek, who gained the Abu Dhabi exhausting courtroom title in February as a qualifier, booked a quarterfinal conflict with American Madison Keys.
It was one more setback for Sabalenka as the beginning of the US Open looms on August 30.
The four-time Grand Slam champion was ousted in the fourth round of the Toronto Masters final week, having misplaced in the identical spherical at Wimbledon and within the quarterfinals at Roland Garros.
Zverev’s match was interrupted by rain for 90 minutes within the seventh recreation of the second set and had two extra five-minute pauses as drops have been dried from the courtroom.
French Open champion Zverev had an opportunity to shut it out at 6-5 within the second-set tiebreaker however stuffed a volley into the web.
The German once more gained an edge within the deciding set with a break for 4-2, however Paul broke again within the subsequent recreation and once more for a 5-4 lead on the way in which to his third win over Zverev of their final 4 conferences.
“I’m unsure how I did it,” Paul stated. “I put some returns in, he gave me some seems to be at second serves and he threw in a couple of doubles (faults). That at all times helps a tonne.
“I went after the ball a bit extra, I used to be having enjoyable on the market.”
Second seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada was one other casualty, falling 6-3, 6-4 to American Frances Tiafoe.
Zverev’s conqueror Paul subsequent faces Roland Garros runner-up Flavio Cobolli, who laboured two and a half hours to engineer a turnaround towards red-hot Spaniard Rafael Jodar 4-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.
American sixth seed Taylor Fritz dispatched Australian Chris O’Connell 6-4, 6-3.
Thiago Tirante, who upset Novak Djokovic within the second spherical, continued his shock run, reaching his first Masters quarterfinal with a 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Jakub Mensik.
Australian Alex de Minaur was no match for Frenchman Arthur Fils, who cruised to a 6-3, 6-4 victory over the fifth seed.
Gauff advances
The ladies’s 2023 champion Coco Gauff saved all eight break factors she confronted in a 6-3, 6-2 win over Czech Marie Bouzkova.
The fourth seed double-faulted on her first match level however leapt as much as smash an overhead winner on her second probability.
“I performed effectively the entire match, going for my pictures, coming ahead and never letting her counter-punch,” Gauff stated. “I’m pleased with how I performed.”
Defending girls’s champion Iga Swiatek wanted 4 match factors to get previous Diane Parry of France 6-3, 6-3.
The seventh-seeded Pole now faces a rerun of final week’s Toronto remaining towards Elena Rybakina, who beat Diana Shnaider 6-4, 6-4.
Six-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek captured her first title of 2026 along with her victory over reigning Australian Open champion Rybakina in Toronto.
Two different present Grand Slam champions bowed out.
Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk rallied from a set all the way down to beat French Open winner Mirra Andreeva 4-6, 6-0, 6-2.
Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova fell to Amanda Anisimova 6-1, 6-4 in one other weather-disrupted match.
