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Cameron Norrie outlasted his fellow Briton Andy Murray in an engrossing battle of attrition Wednesday in Cincinnati, where the ninth seed triumphed 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the pair’s second-round clash at the Western & Southern Open.

Neither player was able to take control for any significant period during the tight two-hour, 38-minute encounter in Ohio, but it was Norrie who found something extra in the closing stages as two-time champion Murray began to struggle physically in the Cincinnati heat. A solitary break late in both the second and third sets was enough for Norrie to secure his first win against Murray and his 39th tour-level win of the year.

“I just needed to put a lot of balls in the court,” said Norrie after levelling his ATP Head2Head series against Murray at 1-1. “At the start of the match nothing was really working for me, I was not really being physical, I was not really executing how I liked.

“Credit to Andy, he came out and was using his slice a lot, coming forward well. He reads the game incredibly, so credit to him and it was not easy towards the end, I managed just to find a way.”

A match of fine margins was defined by some pivotal moments, most notably when Murray pushed a routine backhand volley wide when he had break point in the opening game of the second set. Norrie made no mistake when his opportunities came, breaking in the eighth game of the second set and the ninth game of the third as his consistency from deep ensured the Murray delivery was frequently under pressure.

No one’s more surprised that he still has a shot at No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in 2022 than Rafael Nadal himself.

At the tennis-advanced age of 36, the Spaniard hasn’t played a competitive match in nearly a month and a half, an abdominal tear having forced him out of Wimbledon after a five-set quarter-final escape against American Taylor Fritz. Yet here he is, age-defiant, back in Cincinnati for the first time in half a decade, a 36-time ATP Masters 1000 champion who’s apparently still hungry for more.

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Nadal could usurp the top-ranked Daniil Medvedev should he win the title this week, and Medvedev fail to reach the quarter-finals, returning to No. 1 for the first time since January 2020. It’s a battle that will also decide the top seed at the upcoming US Open. 

“It means a lot to me to have that opportunity, something that I never expected could happen again. But here we are,” said Nadal, the No. 2 seed at the Western & Southern Open. “The main thing is to stay healthy and finish the season playing the events that I want to play. I will not play more than what I believe will work well for my body to achieve this goal, but I am going to put all my efforts into every single event that I play. 

On 24 October 2014, 17-year-old Borna Coric walked onto centre court at the Swiss Indoors Basel. In his first ATP 500 event, the Croatian stood across the net from his idol, Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals. It was an experience he will never forget.

“It was a full stadium for our quarter-final. I remember I was just enjoying it. I was super happy. I was like a kid in a candy store,” Coric told ATPTour.com. “It just felt good. I was in the moment, I was living my dream.”

It was a dream for Coric just to face Nadal. The teen did much more than that, defeating the Spaniard 6-2, 7-6(4). He now owns a 2-2 ATP Head2Head record against the legendary lefty, with those four meetings coming between 2014 and 2017.

Five years on from their most recent clash, Coric will get another chance to go stroke-for-stroke with the 36-time ATP Masters 1000 champion at the Western & Southern Open.

“I love those moments,” Coric said. “I love the big stages.”

Daniil Medvedev rued facing the unseeded Nick Kyrgios so early in Montreal after defeat in his opening match last week. The World No. 1 faced another tough test against Botic van de Zandschulp on Tuesday night as he began his Western & Southern Open campaign.

Playing against the only man to take a set off him in his 2021 US Open title run, Medvedev made a fast start behind an instant break but had to survive a strange second set to secure a 6-4, 7-5 victory and advance to the third round in Cincinnati.

"The second set was not that clean," said Medvedev, who surrendered a break advantage and saved a set point on serve in the set. "The first set was great. Everything was working. I had three games where I had break points but managed to break in the first game, which was enough."

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Solid if unspectacular, Medvedev built a lead of a set and a break but immediately surrendered his advantage as van de Zandschulp levelled at 3-3 in the second. After the Dutchman saved three break points to hold for 5-4, it was Medvedev's turn to save a break point, which doubled as set point. The top seed survived thanks to an error from his opponent, then broke for the third time in the match as van de Zandschulp double-faulted three times on serve at 5-all.

Carlos Alcaraz fell victim to an upset bid from American Tommy Paul in his last outing, admitting post-match that he couldn't handle the "pressure" of being the second seed in Montreal.

The Spaniard did not allow the pressure to build on Tuesday in his second-round match at the Western & Southern Open as he breezed past home hope Mackenzie McDonald 6-3, 6-2 on the Grandstand to earn his first win in his second Cincinnati appearance.

"I'm really happy with the performance today," he said. "One of the goals in this tournament is to grow with the pressure... to enjoy as I did at the beginning of the year and last year. To enjoy playing great tennis, to try to be relaxed. I think in this round I did it and I'm really happy with it."

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An ATP Masters 1000 champion in Miami and Madrid already in 2022, Alcaraz improved to 16-3 at that elite level this season and 43-8 on the year, including 13-3 on hard courts. 

Ben Shelton has had a knack for peaking at the crucial moments in his college career, earning the title-clinching match win for the University of Florida at the 2021 NCAA Championships and finding top form at the 2022 individual championships to claim the singles title in May.

Since then, the 19-year-old has reached two ATP Challenger Tour finals and two semi-finals in his native United States. He also earned a win in his tour-level debut last month in Atlanta before a third-set tie-break loss to John Isner, who was full of praise for his young countryman post-match.

On Tuesday at the Western & Southern Open, Shelton rose to the occasion in his ATP Masters 1000 debut, thrilling the home crowd on Porsche Court. On the right side of a three-setter against Italy's Lorenzo Sonego, the wild card scored a 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-5 win in two hours, 52 minutes. The victory moved him inside the Top 200 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and set up a second-round showdown with fifth seed Casper Ruud.

"It means a lot [to get my first Masters 1000 win]," he said post-match. "I was really grateful for [tournament director] Eric [Butorac] giving me a wild card here. I'm really happy that I get to play my first one here in the United States. It's an amazing atmosphere here and it was a lot of fun today, so I'm excited for Round 2."

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Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies faced down two of the biggest serves on the ATP Tour on Tuesday to book a second-round berth at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.

The German duo converted three of six break points against Miami champions Hubert Hurkacz and John Isner to seal a 6-4, 7-6(0) first-round victory at the ATP Masters 1000 event. A topsy-turvy second set contained four breaks of serve but Krawietz and Mies dominated the tie-break to set a meeting with Alex de Minaur and Cameron Norrie.

Two-time Roland Garros champions Krawietz and Mies are chasing their maiden Masters 1000 title in Ohio, where they have never progressed beyond the quarter-finals.

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Also on Tuesday, Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara edged home wild card pairing Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe in a tense first-round clash. The British-Finnish team, which lifted its first ATP Tour title of the year in Hamburg last month, triumphed 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 on tournament debut in Cincinnati.

Nick Kyrgios is known for his sizzle — huge serves, tremendous touch, tweeners and winners out of nowhere. Although some question his shot selection from time to time, the Australian says there are brains behind his brilliance.

“I feel like I do my research on all the players, and I feel as if I have got a very good tennis brain. Watching tennis as a kid and all the tennis I have played and just how much I watch it, I kind of know everyone's strengths and weaknesses,” Kyrgios said. “I just feel like I know my game style well and what works. I feel obviously against someone like Fokina or Medvedev, de Minaur, these type of players, if I engage in too many rallies, it's not high percentage.”

Kyrgios specifically referred to how players will engage in crosscourt rallies to play “high percentages”. He is unafraid of switching things up and changing the rhythm of a rally.

“For me, that's not high percentage. That's not how I'm going to win matches is by playing easy balls crosscourt. For 90 per cent of players, that's high percentage, but for me that's very low-percentage tennis. That's not going to get it done,” Kyrgios said. “Against these types of players, I know I have to stay on top of the points, stay aggressive, try and shorten the points where I can, serve and volley, mix it up, slice. I have got to play my type of tennis, and that's high percentage.”

To the 27-year-old, it is less about following conventions and more about employing your game style properly against a given opponent. Fighting fire with fire is not always going to work, for example.

Another week, another strong start for Nick Kyrgios in 2022.

The Australian improved his record in first-round matches this year to 11-0 with a 7-5, 6-4 victory against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati on Tuesday.

Kyrgios, who reached his sole ATP Masters 1000 final in Cincinnati in 2017, struggled for consistency at times during his 90-minute win, but he was clinical in converting three of four break points during his maiden ATP Head2Head clash against Davidovich Fokina.

“He’s a tricky player, he’s so talented, he’s got so many shots at his disposal,” said Kyrgios after the match. “So I knew that I just had to serve well and then dictate as much as I can. His backhand is incredible. It was a tricky match."

The INSIGHTS In Attack statistics for the match reveal the extent to which Kyrgios tried to stay on top of Davidovich Fokina during rallies. The Australian struck the ball from attacking positions 33 per cent of the time, the third highest In Attack rate of the tournament so far.

Working overtime on your 21st birthday? It was all worth it for Jannik Sinner.

The Italian was made to dig deep by Thanasi Kokkinakis in the pair’s first-round match at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati on Tuesday, but the 10th seed ultimately prevailed 6-7(9), 6-4, 7-6(6) in a marathon three-hour, 15-minute encounter.

“I love to play tennis and doing the thing that you love on your birthday is the best thing you can do,” said Sinner after the match. “Obviously today was a happy ending, so I’m very happy about that.”

Sinner fired 43 winners, 30 of them from his forehand wing, while Kokkinakis struck 35 of his own as their maiden tour-level meeting proved to be an engrossing one. Sinner appeared to have the momentum after twice breaking Kokkinakis’ serve to claim the second set, but the World No. 12 needed a deciding-set tie-break to clinch the win and book a second-round meeting with Pablo Carreno Busta or Miomir Kecmanovic at the ATP Masters 1000 event.

“In the beginning I was not playing so well or feeling the ball so well,” said Sinner. “I tried to be a little bit more aggressive, which I had to do because Thanasi is a very attacking player. Let’s take the positives out of this match, and hopefully in the next round I can play also at a higher level.”

As the North American hard-court swing continues to heat up this week at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, some of the country’s biggest stars will be looking to build on their recent success on home soil.

Taylor Fritz, Reilly Opelka and Tommy Paul currently sit inside the Top 35 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and are part of a wider group of 13 players from the United States who are currently in the Top 100. While the relationships between many of those in the American contingent are strong, the bond Fritz, Opelka and Paul hold is extra special.

When the trio were teenagers, they trained together at the USTA base in Florida. It provided them the opportunity to work on their games, while crucially also allowing them to develop and build the foundations of friendships that remain stronger today than ever. Opelka remembers their junior days well.

“We first met when we were around 13 years old and we have been training together since then and we started hanging out then, so the relationships naturally formed,” Opelka told ATPTour.com. “At that age, it is an interesting time. We had a weird setup because we didn’t have any parents around.

“It was us three living together, so we didn’t have as much direction. It was like a free for all. There are not many guys aged 13 who have this massive freedom and could do what we had. This is kind of what we had when we were living in the dorms.”

Botic van de Zandschulp has quickly become a star on the ATP Tour, ranked a career-high No. 24 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. The Dutchman’s rise has been so swift, he was outside the Top 100 a year ago and did not get into qualifying at last year’s Western & Southern Open. On Tuesday evening, he will face World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev for a place in the third round of the main draw.

“I actually like the big courts, the big stages. I feel more free when I am playing on a big court. It’s still so different from last year, playing tournaments where not a lot of people were coming to watch,” van de Zandschulp told ATPTour.com. “Of course it’s really nice that it’s happening so fast that I’m playing a lot of big names.”

This will be his third clash against Medvedev in less than a year. Their first meeting came in the quarter-finals of the US Open, where van de Zandschulp made a dream run as a qualifier. The 6’3” right-hander was the only player who won a set against Medvedev at Flushing Meadows.

Despite trailing 0-2 in their ATP Head2Head series, van de Zandschulp has learned a lot about the 2020 Nitto ATP Finals champion’s game.

“He’s returning from so far. Other guys aren’t returning that far, so that was a thing that was different from other matches,” van de Zandschulp said. “It’s insane how he never played a slice when he’s reaching for a backhand. He never plays a slice. Those are things I never faced before so it’s something to get used to. Now I've played him twice and let’s hope the third time is going to be better than the last two times.”

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina knows that when he steps on centre court at the Western & Southern Open Tuesday, he will be facing one of the hottest players on the ATP Tour in Nick Kyrgios. That would make some players nervous.

Not Davidovich Fokina.

“I always say that I prefer to play on the big stadiums,” Davidovich Fokina told ATPTour.com. “I increase my level and I prefer to play in those stadiums. With Kyrgios, who is a showman, it is for sure going to be a fun match to watch.”

The Spaniard knows the Australian reached the Wimbledon final, triumphed in Washington and advanced to the Montreal quarter-finals. Playing an opponent of his form is something Davidovich Fokina plans to embrace.

“He’s playing very good. He’s on fire right now. For sure it is going to be a tough match,” Davidovich Fokina said. “I will do my best. I will try to bother him on his serve, try my best and let’s see what happens.”

If there’s one thing Nick Kyrgios has never lacked, it’s confidence in his game. Even in what he’s dubbed his “darkest times,” when he even questioned his livelihood, he never lost that self-belief, the knowledge that when he’s on his game he can hold his own against the sport’s elite.

“I could lose five matches in a row and I still believe that I have a chance to beat anyone,” said the 27-year-old Canberran last week in Montreal, where he defeated World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev for the third time in four ATP Head2Heads.

A refocused, reinvigorated Kyrgios again finds himself in Medvedev’s quarter at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, though there are some obstacles standing in the way of a rematch. The Aussie will open with a first-time encounter with Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Tuesday at the Linder Family Tennis Center, and could later face the likes of Taylor Fritz or Andrey Rublev should he advance.

Out to a subpar 4-9 start in 2022, Davidovich Fokina turned his year around in April with a dream run to the first ATP Tour final of his career. It came on the hallowed clay of the Rolex Monte-Carlos Masters, and saw the 22-year-old Andalusian stun the likes of then-top-ranked Novak Djokovic, David Goffin, Fritz and Grigor Dimitrov in reaching the title match, where he finally succumbed to defending champ Stefanos Tsitsipas, 6-3, 7-6(3).

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Frances Tiafoe cherishes competing on the biggest stages. The American proved it again on Monday evening in Cincinnati.

Tiafoe battled past Italian star Matteo Berrettini 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-6(5) to reach the second round of the Western & Southern Open. The 24-year-old levelled his ATP Head2Head series with the two-time Nitto ATP Finals competitor at 1-1.

"People don't understand, obviously results haven't really shown how well I've been playing. I've been playing some great tennis, honestly," Tiafoe said in his on-court interview. "I really just needed this. I know it's a first-round match.... But everyone knew why I needed this against a quality player, so it was big.

"I know I've beaten a lot of these guys, but it hasn't happened of late. So it's one of those things where you've got to get over the hump. But I'm happy I get another chance to play again."

Photo Credit: Mike Lawrence/ATP Tour
It was not the first time during the North American hard-court swing that Tiafoe was in a tight match against a big-hitting star. In Washington, he earned five match points against Nick Kyrgios, but fell short.

Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios started their quest for a third title of the season with a 6-0, 6-4 victory over Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini on Monday at the Western & Southern Open.

The Australians, who clinched the Australian Open crown in January, fired eight aces and saved the one break point they faced to advance after 60 minutes. Kokkinakis and Kyrgios have now won their past five matches, after lifting the trophy in Atlanta at the start of August.

They will next face top seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in a popcorn second-round clash, aiming to improve on their 14-2 record in 2022.

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Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares' love affair with the ATP Masters 1000 hard-court event continued when they edged eighth seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 4-6, 6-2, 10-7. The British-Brazilian team defeated Cabal and Farah in the 2018 final in Ohio, while they also enjoyed a run to the championship match in 2017.

The Pepperstone ATP Rankings return to their traditional 52-week calculation logic this week, ending an extended period of covid-era adjustment.

Following the conclusion of the ATP Masters 1000 event in Montral, all points from events held in 2019 and 2020 have dropped off. Therefore, the Pepperstone ATP Rankings now consists of results from the past 52 weeks only, as per the traditional merit-based ranking methodology used since 1973.

Daniil Medvedev remains the current World No. 1, but 36-time ATP Masters 1000 champion Rafael Nadal has the chance to usurp top spot this week should he win the Western & Southern Open title and Medvedev does not reach the quarter-finals in Cincinnati.

Spanish teen Carlos Alcaraz will climb two places to a career-high No. 2 should he win his third ATP Masters 1000 title of the year in Cincinnati.

See real-time player movements in Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings

Cameron Norrie survived a major scare from #NextGenATP Dane Holger Rune to reach the second round at the Western & Southern Open for the first time Monday.

In a hard-fought clash, the Briton showcased a mixture of grit and quality as soaked up Rune's powerful groundstrokes, while he penetrated the 19-year-old's defences with his aggressive forehand to triumph 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-4 after two hours and 34 minutes in Cincinnati.

Norrie, who is making his third appearance at the ATP Masters 1000 event, now leads the 19-year-old 2-0 in their ATP Head2Head series, having defeated the World No. 29 en route to his fourth tour-level title in Lyon in May. The 26-year-old will face former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka or countryman Andy Murray in a standout second-round match.

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The ninth seed will be aiming for a deep run in Ohio as he looks to strengthen his chances of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals in November. Norrie is currently 14th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, but could climb quickly with strong results at the hard-court event.

Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka wrote another chapter into their long-running rivalry on Monday at the Western & Southern Open, where the Scot advanced with a hard-fought 7-6(3), 5-7, 7-5 victory in Cincinnati.

The former World No. 1 showed his fighting qualities during the two-hour, 34-minute first-round match as he scampered around the baseline to hang in points. He also caused damage with his backhand, while he rallied from a break down in the third set to improve to 13-9 in their ATP Head2Head series.

“The court is pretty lively when the weather is like this. Physically I feel tired,” Murray said in his on-court interview. “I had some issues with cramp during the match, the same as Washington, so that is something I need to get on top of.

“I tried to take the ball on a little more and finish points at the net. I wasn’t that successful when I came up, but the intention was there. I was a little more offensive on the second-serve return. Last game I was just fighting, trying to find a way through.”

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With another 1,000 points on offer this week at the Western & Southern Open, the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin continues to heat up as players vie for the eight available spots at the 2022 Nitto ATP Finals.

Fresh off his quarter-final run in his home city of Montreal, Felix Auger-Aliassime is in position to make his debut at the year-end showcase. Sitting at seventh in the Race with 2,645 poins, the Canadian can create some separation from the chasing pack with a strong performance in Cincinnati. Seeded seventh, he will face either Alex de Minaur or qualifier Henri Laaksonen in his opening match, with a potential meeting with Race leader Rafael Nadal looming in the quarter-finals.

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From the the 22-year-old down to Montreal champion Pablo Carreno Busta in 11th place, fewer than 600 points separate five players competing at this week's ATP Masters 1000 event. That group also includes returning finalist Andrey Rublev, Montreal runner-up Hubert Hurkacz and American Taylor Fritz, with the latter seeking his second Masters 1000 title on home soil this season following his breakthrough triumph in Indian Wells.

Also within striking distance of a Top 8 spot this week are Matteo Berrettini, Cameron Norrie, Jannik Sinner and Marin Cilic, all of whom could reach eighth place or better with a title, depending on other results.