THE Round of 32 at the Cincinnati Open was suspended late Monday afternoon when the tennis facility in Mason, Ohio, experienced a power outage, and play was halted for around 75 minutes.
Photos from reporters on the scene captured smoke ostensibly coming from on- site generators at Lindner Family Tennis Center. Though there was daylight when the outage occurred, electronic line calling and the TV feed both went offline without power, forcing the delay.
Two third-round men’s matches were in progress when the outage took place. Greek 25th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas led Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi 7-6 (4), 2-5, and fourth seed Taylor Fritz had just won his first set against Italian 31st seed Lorenzo Sonego 7-6 (4).
When action resumed, Fritz sealed the match by winning the second set 7-5, finally recording the contest’s lone service break in the penultimate game.
“I was looking for that break the entire match today,” Fritz said. “I wish I could have gotten it done in the first, when I had a couple of chances. But there’s a lot of scoreboard pressure at the end of the sets, and that’s where a lot of times I am finding that break.”
In evening action, top-seeded Jannik Sinner of Italy downed 30th-seeded Gabriel Diallo 6-2, 7-6 (6). The Canadian had a set point to level the match at 6-5 in the tiebreaker, but Sinner took the next three points and the victory.
Sinner next will face France’s Adrian Mannarino, who upset 13th-seeded Tommy Paul 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 in the final match of the night.
France’s Terence Atmane rolled to a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Brazil’s Joao Fonseca.
Before the power outage, Frances Tiafoe was among the players who took care of business as the 10th seed defeated No. 20 seed Ugo Humbert of France 6-4, 6-4.
Seeking his first ATP Masters 1000 title, Tiafoe pleased the home crowd by hitting eight aces among his 22 overall winners. Although Humbert saved 9 of 12 break points to make his opponent work for the win, Tiafoe’s first serve was too much for him (31 of 41 first-service points, 75.6 percent).
Danish No. 7 seed Holger Rune took down No. 28 Alex Michelsen 7-6 (4), 6-3. Tiafoe and Rune will collide in the Round of 16.
Also, No. 23 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada was ahead 7-6 (4), 4-2 when France’s Arthur Rinderknech retired. Rinderknech had collapsed, apparently due to the midday heat in Ohio, though he was able to leave the court under his own power.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
