Cincinnati Masters: No fear for Alcaraz who reaches last 16

Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, the second seed, defeated Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic 6-4, 6-4 to move into the last 16 of the Cincinnati Masters at the Lindner Family Tennis Center on Tuesday.

It was the Spaniard’s 50th win of the year, a statistic in which he currently leads the ATP Tour.

Although he lost his serve midway through the second set while a break ahead, Alcaraz was highly efficient overall on serve. He fired 12 aces and dropped only 16 points on his delivery throughout the match. At one stage, Medjedovic appeared to struggle with the heat and moved less effectively around the court.

The contest was far more straightforward for the 22-year-old than his previous round, when he battled past Bosnia’s Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 2-6, 6-3.

Alcaraz, ranked No. 2 in the world, will next face Italian lucky loser Luca Nardi, who advanced after Jakub Mensik was forced to withdraw. Mensik, the No. 16 seed, trailed 6-2, 2-1 when he retired, ill, also suffering from the extreme heat.

Cincinnati Masters 1000, other third-round results (Lindner Family Tennis Center, hard, USD 9.193.540, most recent results first):

• Ben Shelton vs. Roberto Bautista Agut
• Brandon Nakashima vs. Alexander Zverev
• Jiri Lehecka vs. Adam Walton

• Karen Khachanov vs. Jenson Brooksby: tuesday
• Luca Nardi beat Jakub Mensik (16): 6-2, 2-1 ret.
• Andrey Rublev (9) beat Alexei Popyrin (21): 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 7-5
• Francisco Comesana beat Reilly Opelka: 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-5
• Adrian Mannarino (Q) beat Tommy Paul (13): 5-7, 6-3, 6-4
• Terence Atmane (Q) beat Joao Fonseca: 6-3, 6-4
• Jannik Sinner (1) beat Gabriel Diallo (30): 6-2, 7-6 (6)
• Taylor Fritz (4) beat Lorenzo Sonego (31): 7-6 (4), 7-5
• Benjamin Bonzi beat Stefanos Tsitsipas (25): 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-4
• Frances Tiafoe (10) beat Ugo Humbert (20): 6-4, 6-4
• Holger Rune (7) beat Alex Michelsen (28): 7-6 (4), 6-3
• Felix Auger-Aliassime (23) beat Arthur Rinderknech: 7-6 (4), 4-2 ret.