The third day of the 2024 Cincinnati Open featured several big names playing their second-round matches. However, quite a few seeded and heavily-favored players have bowed out of the tournament.
Men’s top seed Jannik Sinner began his campaign in Cincinnati without fuss against Alex Michelsen. The same, however, cannot be said for the women’s World No. 1 Iga Swiatek, who needed three sets to overcome French qualifier Varvara Gracheva 6-0, 6-7(8), 6-2.
Stefanos Tsitsipas, Holger Rune, and Marta Kostyuk all safely navigated their path into the next round. However, other tennis stars were unable to do the same.
On that note, let’s take a look at some of the shocking results from Day 3 of the 2024 Cincinnati Open:
#5 Beatriz Haddad Maia
Brazilian No. 1 Beatriz Haddad Maia has not performed at her best level in recent months, and her struggles continued at the 2024 Cincinnati Open. Haddad Maia was seeded 17th at the WTA 1000 tournament and began her campaign against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on August 14.
The Brazilian took the one-set advantage with two breaks of her Russian opponent’s serve. However, the lead was neutralized in the second set via a tiebreaker. Pavlyuchenkova stepped up her level in the third set by racing to a 5-2 lead. While Haddad Maia pulled a break back, she was unable to stop the Russian from winning 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-3.
#4 Lorenzo Musetti
Lorenzo Musetti came to the Cincinnati Open fresh from his bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The transition from Parisian clay to American hard court proved tricky for the Italian, as he needed three sets to dispatch Nicholas Jarry in the opening round. Musetti could not sustain his level in the second round and bowed out of the tournament.
The 14th seed was up against Frances Tiafoe and looked lost for answers. The Italian faced 12 break points on his serve and was broken four times in two sets. Tiafoe, in search of steady form, was at his best and did not face a single breakpoint en route to a thumping 6-3, 6-2 win.
#3 Sebastian Korda
Sebastian Korda recently won the biggest title of his career at the ATP 500 Citi Open in Washington, DC, and built upon that success with a second Masters 1000 semifinal at the Canadian Open last week. However, the American endured an unexpected exit at the Cincinnati Open at the hands of Pablo Carreno Busta, who had only won one tour-level match in 2024 and is currently ranked 513th.
Carreno Busta, a former Canadian Open champion, was able to go toe-to-toe with Korda in the contest and took the lead by breaking the World No. 15 right at the end of the first set. The American’s level deteriorated in the second set, and the Spaniard took full advantage. Carreno Busta broke Korda twice in the second set and wrapped up a, 7-5, 6-1 win to reach the third round of the Cincinati Open.
#2 Emma Navarro
Emma Navarro has been one of the breakout stars of the 2024 WTA Tour. She broke into the top 15 of the WTA rankings thanks to some impressive performances this year, that include reaching the Canadian Open semifinals and the quarterfinals at Wimbledon and Indian Wells.
The 23-year-old was high on confidence heading into the Cincinnati Open but her campaign came to a crushing halt in the first-round. Navarro faced Russian prodigy Mirra Andreeva and was completely outplayed.
Andreeva produced a fine performance to register a 6-2, 6-2 win and hand the American
#1 Daniil Medvedev
Daniil Medvedev has had some impressive performances at the Cincinnati Open, having won the tournament in 2019 while reaching two semifinals in 2021 and 2023. The Russian was seeded fourth in the Masters 1000 event this year and received a walkover to the second round, where his opponent was Jiri Lehecka.
The Czech, playing his first tournament since the Madrid Open, defeated Mariano Navone in his opening-round match and made a good start against Medvedev. Both players held their serves in the first set, with Lehecka taking the lead via the tiebreaker.
In the second set, Medvedev was broken in the seventh game, handing the Czech a pathway to a 7-6(2), 6-4 victory and a place in the third round of the Cincinnati Open.
