Djokovic continues on a roll and Thiem says goodbye in his debut

Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic, seeded number one, began his career tonight in the Cincinnati Tournament, which is played on the tracks of Flushing Meadows (New York), due to the coronavirus pandemic, and did so with a victory worked by 7-6 (2) and 6-4 against the Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis.

Djokovic tried to dose his effort against Berankis, which led him to have to prevail in the tiebreaker in the first set, That he took as soon as he hit the accelerator.

With the advantage assured, the second set also started “soft” which allowed Berankis, number 72 in the world ranking, to break the Serbian's service.

But Djokovic got it back in the eighth, to head without a May2-0 for the world number one.

Djokovic, who continues his adaptation to the scheme of the bubble mounted in Flushing Meadows, will have as a rival in the third round to American Tennys Sandgren, who in a marathon match of almost three hours, beat the young Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime by 6-7 (7), 6-2 and 7-6 (5).

Krajinovic fires Thiem

The second big surprise on the third day of the Cincinnati Masters 1000 came tonight when the Serbian Filip Krajinovic, 32 of the world, defeated Austrian Dominic Thiem, second seeded, in straight sets 6-2 and 6-1.

The match, played on court 17 of Flushing Meadows, where this year the Cincinnati tournament is played due to the coronavirus pandemic, had no more history to see Krajinovic run over Thiem with his tennis, in what was the first duel between the two as professionals.

Thiem, 26, who came as the big favorite to play the final from the bottom of the table against Serbian Novak Djokovic, seeded number one, never found a way to do his tennis and in just one hour and two minutes Krajinovic had already secured a pass to the third round.

His rival, another surprise player, the Hungarian Marton Fucsovics, a 28-year veteran, 84 of the world, who won in three sets 7-5, 4-6 and 6-2 against the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, fourteenth seed, and former champion of the tournament, in what was also the first duel between the two tennis players.

The duel between Krajinovic and Fucsovics will be their first within the professional circuit of the ATP.

Murray defeats Zverev

English Andy Murray, world number 134 defeated this Monday by 6-3, 3-6 and 7-5 to german Alexander Zverev and advanced to the third round of Cincinnati tournament.

The former number one in the world will face Canadian Milos Raonic in the third round, who on Sunday beat American Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-4.

Murray, what returned to the slopes after more than a year of absence Due to a recurrent injury to his right hip, he was the protagonist today on the Grandstand track in Flushing Meadows, where this year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Cincinnati Masters 1000 is played.

Murray, 33, demonstrated from the start of the game great physical preparation and he good game that took him to the top of the world ranking.

Safe with his serve and hits from the back of the court, Murray dominated the first set with a 5-2 run and closed it with his own serve in just 49 minutes.

Murray played much better than the young German promise, who had no response to the complete tennis that his rival presented him.

Even if in the second he recovered and thanks to his better serve and more energy wasting he was able to tie the game, andn the third it all returned to a struggle between class and the experience of a former United States Open champion and the youth of a promise that still has a long way to go.

Murray knew how to define in the decisive moments with the blows that the so many winners gave him that in the end allowed him to win after two hours and 31 minutes that the game lasted.

The duel between Murray and Raonic, thirtieth in the world, will be the thirteenth, with wide advantage for English by 9-3.

While the confrontation between Murray and Zverev was the second with a perfect record of an English tennis player (2-0) after he also won it in the first, but in straight sets, at the 2016 Australian Open, when Zverev was 18 years old and it was ranked 83rd in the FedEx ATP Rankings.

Now ranked seventh in the world, Zverev also couldn't beat Murray, who was right when he said that if the German tennis player did not have his best day with the serve, the actions of winning it were increased and that is what happened.

“I knew it was going to be a good test for me and I feel very happy with the way I have played, responded on the court and won, “said Murray.

Of the future in the tournament, Murray reiterated that he will go game by game and the results will be those that respond to the condition in which he is to compete.

Results of the day of August 24 at the Masters 1,000 in Cincinnati

Second round

Novak Djokovic (SRB) to Ricardas Berankis (LTU) 7-6 and 6-4

Tennys Sandgren (USA) to Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) 6-7, 6-2 and 7-6

Jan-Lennard Struff (ALE) to Denis Shapovalov (CAN) 7-6, 3-6 and 6-4

Daniil Medvedev (RUS) to Marcos Giron (USA) 6-4 and 6-4

Aljaz Bedene (SLO) to Taylor Fritz (USA) 7-6 and 7-5

Karen Khachanov (RUS) to Pablo Carreño (ESP) 7-6 and 6-1

Roberto Bautista (ESP) to Richard Gasquet (FRA) 7-5 and 6-1

Matteo Berrettini (ITA) to Emil Ruusuvuori (FIN) 6-4, 6-7 and 7-5

Reilly Opelka (USA) to Diego Schwartzman (ARG) 6-3 and 7-6

John Isner (USA) to John Millman (AUS) 4-6, 7-6 and 7-6

Andy Murray (GBR) to Alexander Zverev (ALE) 6-3, 3-6 and 7-5

Milos Raonic (CAN) to Daniel Evans (GBR) 6-3 and 7-5

Marton Fucsovics (HUN) to Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) 7-5, 4-6 and 6-2

Filip Krajinovic (SRB) to Dominic Thiem (AUT) 6-2 and 6-1