MADRID, 17 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish tennis player Alejandro Davidovich Fokina was eliminated this Thursday morning in the round of 32 of the Cincinnati tournament (United States), the seventh Masters 1000 of the season and which is played on hard courts, after withdrawing due to back problems during the second set of his match against Serbian Novak Djokovic.
After 42 minutes on the court, Davidovich couldn’t take the pain in his lower back anymore and left the tournament, ending the good run he had had since last week at the Masters 1000 in Toronto. In this way, Djokovic solved his reappearance a month after losing the Wimbledon final against Carlos Alcaraz, also a Spaniard.
Without having participated in Toronto, ‘Nole’ returned to activity against ‘Foki’ with a first game won in white and two ‘break’ balls saved a little later (2-1). The man from Malaga, in the wake of losing those two good chances, then began to show back pain and relented in the eighth game (5-3).
His attempt to react in the ninth (5-4) was immediately neutralized by the Serb to close the first set 6-4, followed by the official confirmation of abandonment by the Andalusian. Thanks to this victory, Djokovic will face Frenchman Gaël Monfils, the executioner of Australian Alex de Miñaur (7-5, 6-4), in the round of 16.
On the other hand, the Cantabrian Cristina Bucsa was also eliminated in the individual table of the WTA 1000, thanks to her defeat 6-1 and 6-3 against the Italian Jasmine Paolini in the round of 32. Thus, Paolini will face off in the next round with Kazakh Elena Rybakina.