Juan Martín del Potro and Nick Kyrgios were two real heavyweights in the round of 16 at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati. Novak Djokovic faced defending champion Nick Kyrgios.
When Nick Kyrgios and Juan Martín del Potro go to the square it will be fast. And the two superstars didn’t take long to ask.
On the fast ground in Ohio both players managed their service games at the beginning without problems. Kyrgios and DelPo were solid from the baseline, with the Argentinian moving better. Kyrgios, on the other hand, was inhibited by persistent knee problems and was taped on both legs again.
At 4-4, it was del Potro who took the lead for the first time in the match. This was destroyed by Kyrgios with a strong backhand overhead ball. Shortly thereafter, the third in the world rankings made a break point, but Kyrgios pulled out of the affair with strong serves.
The tiebreak was to decide on set one and del Potro was the one who could make the decisive pinprick. At 4:4, the “Tower of Tandil” managed the mini-break, which reached 7:4 and the lead of the set.
The second set was to be similar to the first round and the spectators were offered a high-class and close match. After Kyrgios and del Potro continued a solid and unyielding serve, another tiebreak followed.
This time with the better end for the Australian. With a forehand winner, Kyrgios managed the mini-break and then served to equalize the sets.
After the set equaliser, the 24-year-old was by no means satisfied and so del Potro took his chance and booked the first break of the game in his account. Kyrgios would not recover from another 4-1 break and del Potro would face David Goffin in the quarter-finals 7-6 (4), 6-7 (6) and 6-2, who beat Kevin Anderson 6-2 and 6-4.
In the round of 16 between Novak Djokovic and Grigor Dimitrov, the fans in Cincinnati also had great tennis.
After the match between the Wimbledon winner and the defending champion in Cincinnati was interrupted due to rain at 2:6, 6:3 and 2:1 for Djokovic the day before, the match continued on Friday afternoon.
Shortly before the break Djokovic managed an early break against a strong Dimitrov, who had to defend some points as reigning Cincinnati champion. The Bulgarian played with Slice and tried to push Djokovic into long rallies.
However, the Serb did not let himself be disturbed, defended the break and finally won 6-4 against Dimitrov in the third set. The “Djoker” will meet the Canadian Milos Raonic, who beat Denis Shapovalov in two sets (7:6 (6), 6:4).