CINCINNATI: Novak Djokovic led three top 10 seeds into the quarter-finals of the rain-hit ATP-WTA Cincinnati Masters last night as organisers rushed to get the US Open tune-up back on schedule.
The trio of Grand Slam winners all followed the script by posting victories.
Djokovic picked up where he left off early in the third set on Thursday to eliminate defending champion Grigor Dimitrov 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, setting up three match points with an ace.
Fourth seed Juan Martin del Potro outlasted Australian Nick Kyrgios 7-6 (7/4), 6-7 (6/8), 6-2 while tournament number seven Marin Cilic beat young Russian Karen Khachanov 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-4.
Exited
Del Potro next faces Belgian 11th seed David Goffin, who upset Wimbledon finalist and sixth seed Kevin Anderson 6-2, 6-4. Anderson exited with a whimper, producing just nine aces and dropping his serve three times.
Due to 48 hours of bad weather, second seed and crowd favourite Roger Federer was only just getting started in his third-round contest against Leonard Mayer last night as Stan Wawrinka aimed to finish up against Hungarian Marton Fucsovics with a possible all-Swiss quarter-final between Federer and Wawrinka on the cards.
In third round action, big-serving Milos Raonic beat fellow Canadian Denis Shapovalov 7-6(6) 6-4 while Spanish 13th seed Pablo Carreno Busta topped Dutchman Robin Haase 6-4 6-2.
“I think I got myself into more points on his serve than he did on mine,” said Raonic.
“It was the thing I struggled with most last time we played, so I definitely made sure to focus on that and sort of try to change that a little bit.”
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