Defending champion and no.2 seed Roger Federer began his 2015 Cincinnati Masters campaign on a winning note by defeating Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut. Joining Federer in the third round on Tuesday night were Czech Republic’s Tomas Berdych, Croatia’s no.7 seed Marin Cilic, Bulgaria’s no.16 seed Grigor Dimitrov, Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov and Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic. Amid a juicy story doing the rounds at Cincinnati, Nick Kyrgios of Australia exited the competition with a tame loss against French 12th seed Richard Gasquet in the first round. Several seeded women also lost their first round matches. No.10 seeded Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro lost to USA’s Sloane Stephens; no.11 seed Germany’s Angelique Kerber was beaten by Rogers Cup champion Belinda Bencic of Switzerland; no.13 seed Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska was done in by Slovakian qualifier Anna Carolina Schmiedlova and Italy’s no.16 seed Sara Errani lost to Russia’s Daria Gavrilova. Venus Williams’ campaign ended at Cincinnati with a walk-over to no. 6 seed Serbian Ana Ivanovic .
Federer played with authority against Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut winning 95 per cent of his first serve points. The Swiss Maestro didn’t face any break points and hurled 6 aces and 24 winners against Bautista Agut. In the 69-minute match, Federer broke his opponent once in each set to walk away with a 6-4, 6-4 victory. Federer’s next opponent will be the winner in the match between South Africa’s Kevin Anderson and USA’s Jack Sock.
Nick Kyrgios was booted out of Cincinnati Masters on Tuesday with a 2-6, 1-6 defeat against no.12 seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet. The match was played amid an unseemly controversy surrounding Kyrgios’ brother Christos, who was reportedly denied entry to the spectators’ arena after he became involved in a drama that included crude remarks on rising female tennis star Donna Vekic. Last week, Kyrgios had also sledged world no.5 Stan Wawrinka, when the two played their second round match in Rogers Cup at Montreal. Against Gasquet, Kyrgios played miserably and lost in 56 minutes. Kyrgios ended with four aces and seven double-faults, which allowed Gasquet to break the Australian’s service four times. In the second round, the Frenchman will come face to face with another Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis, who defeated Italy’s Fabio Fognini 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in his first round on Monday.
In other men’s singles matches, Spain’s Fernando Verdasco caused an upset of sort by going past Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 after 2 hours 15 minutes. In an interesting contested between two highly-talented teenagers, Croatia’s Borna Coric defeated Germany’s Alexander Zverev 7-5, 3-6, 7-6. Canadian 9th seed Milos Raonic crashed out with a 6-7, 4-6 defeat against Spain’s Feliciano Lopez while Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov defeated another Canadian Vasek Pospisil 7-6, 7-6 and may likely face world no.2 Andy Murray for a place in the quarter-finals. In some notable matches on Tuesday, reigning US Open champion and 7th seed Marin Cilic defeated Portugal’s Joao Sousa 6-4, 6-2; South African Kevin Anderson beat Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer 7-6, 3-6, 6-1; Spain’s Tommy Robredo defeated compatriot Pablo Andujar 3-6, 6-3, 6-1; John Isner of USA lost to compatriot Sam Querrey 3-6, 6-7 and Jeremy Chardy of Spain defeated USA’s Rajeev Ram 6-4, 6-2.
In women’s draw, newly crowned Rogers Cup champion Belinda Bencic of Switzerland kept her flag flying high with an upset 7-5, 6-3 victory over no.11 seed Germany’s Angelique Kerber. Three other seeded women also lost their first round matches. No.10 seeded Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro lost 1-6, 2-6 against USA’s Sloane Stephens; no.13 seed Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska lost 6-4, 3-6 1-6 to Slovakian qualifier Anna Carolina Schmiedlova and Italy’s no.16 seed Sara Errani lost 1-6, 6-4, 2-6 to Russia’s Daria Gavrilova. In her second round USA’s Venus Williams conceded the match to no.6 seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia due to illness.
