Cincinnati: Tiafoe ends Zverev’s streak

Frances Tiafoe has scored the biggest win of his fledgling career, ousting Alexander Zverev in three sets to reach the last 16 at the Western & Southern Open.

The 19-year-old wildcard’s 4-6 6-3 6-4 win ended Zverev’s 10-match winning streak, compiled throughout the German’s title-winning runs in Washington DC and Montreal.

Insane win for Frances Tiafoe over an ailing Alexander Zverev, who was visibly tired from the last 2 weeks. Still. THE BIG FOE. Huge

— Nick McCarvel (@NickMcCarvel) August 16, 2017

“These are wins that definitely can change your career the right way,” Tiafoe said.

Said Zverev: “I’m completely dead right now. I have been dead for the past two days.”

Tiafoe – who scored his first win over Zverev in three meetings – moves through to the third round at a Masters 1000 event for the first time, where he will meet No.14 seed John Isner.

Isner on Tuesday beat another young American, Tommy Paul, in straight sets.

And the crowd goes wild!@FTiafoe snaps Zverev's 10 match win streak to make @CincyTennis R16.#CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/3gnJIyqToQ

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 16, 2017

Zverev’s exit leaves only a handful of seeded players remaining in Cincinnati; Rafael Nadal (No.1), Dominic Thiem (No.3) and Grigor Dimitrov (No.7) are the only top-10 seeds still alive.

Nadal advanced to the last 16 with a 6-3 6-4 win over Richard Gasquet, taking his record against the Frenchman to a perfect 15-0.

Two more were shown the door on Thursday, with in-form pair Sam Querrey and Gilles Muller falling to Adriano Mannarino and Albert Ramos-Vinolas respectively in second-round matches.

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Mannarino goes on to face Thiem while Ramos-Vinolas tackles Nadal.

Another Zverev – Alexander’s older brother Mischa – also fell, losing 6-3 7-6(2) to 11th seed Pablo Carreno-Busta.

Dimitrov, plus Juan Martin del Potro and Nick Kyrgios were among those to advance to the last 16, giving the tournament a much-needed dose of star power.

“Early on, he was serving very well,” said Dimitrov after beating Feliciano Lopez 7-6(5) 6-4.

“It was just important for me to stay in the game and just put as many returns in as I could in order to get in the rally because as soon as that was happening I felt I had a pretty good chance of winning every point.”

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Dimitrov next faces del Potro, who ended American qualifier Mitchell Krueger’s run with a 6-4 6-4 win.

Kyrgios, meanwhile, will face Ivo Karlovic in the third round after beating another qualifier, Alexandr Dolgopolov, in straight sets.