Brandon Nakashima continued his rise as the giant killer of the ATP Tour, saving three match points before stunning fourth-seeded Daniil Medvedev 6-7 (3), 7-6 (4), 6-1 at the Cincinnati Open in Mason, Ohio, on Tuesday. The No. 27 seed, fresh from reaching the Montreal final, produced another fearless performance to add Medvedev to his growing list of high-profile victims.
Nakashima trailed 4-5, love-40 in the second set, but ripped off four straight service points before winning the game on his second attempt. He earned three points on his foe’s serve in the subsequent tiebreaker, which seemed to break Medvedev’s spirit and brightened Nakashima’s.
He cruised in the decider, winning the match in two hours, 51 minutes.
“Down match points, I was just trying to tell myself to keep fighting for every point,” Nakashima said in his on-court interview. “If he’s able to close it out there, then too good. I just kept fighting and managed to get it to a third set. I’m super happy with the level in the third.”
Nakashima Continues Stunning Summer Run
The laid-back Californian, who also reached the semifinals in Washington last month, has knocked off top-20 players Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic, Australia’s Alex de Minaur, Spain’s Rafael Jodar and now Medvedev over the past three weeks.
Nakashima served up eight aces to only one double fault and benefited from Medvedev’s 51 unforced errors. He also excelled at the net, earning points on 21 of 27 (77.8%) trips.
Nakashima will take on Portugal’s Nuno Borges in the fourth round. Borges upset 13th-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev 6-3, 6-4. In a match played from the baselines, Borges made fewer mistakes than Rublev, recording 18 winners and 19 unforced errors compared to 15 winners and 24 errors by the Russian,
Fritz Advances as Musetti Books Round of 16 Spot
Sixth-seeded Taylor Fritz moved on, knocking out fast-rising Spaniard Daniel Merida 6-3, 6-4. Fritz will face Australian qualifier Christopher O’Connell in the fourth round. O’Connell advanced when No. 23 Joao Fonseca of Brazil bowed out due to injury.
Michael Zheng could not pull off another American upset, as the qualifier fell to 10th-seeded Lorenzo Musetti of Italy 6-1, 6-3.
Musetti will face another Portuguese player to make the round of 16. Jaime Faria, who knocked off Montreal winner Ben Shelton in the second round, edged Australia’s Adam Walton 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3) in the final match of the afternoon session.
Faria jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the deciding tiebreaker and never trailed.
(With Inputs From Reuters)Â
