Cincinnati Masters: Opelka rules out De Minaur

That’s the biggest upset so far at Cincinnati. American Reilly Opelka beat Australian Alex De Minaur, the No. 6 seed, 7-6 (6), 6-4 to move into the third round of the Masters 1000 at the Lindner Family Tennis Center on Sunday.

De Minaur, a winner at Washington and a quarter-finalist at Toronto, is a major figure in hard-court tennis in 2025. He was on a 7-1 run before this match against Opelka, whom he had defeated five times out of five in the past.

De Minaur leads the ATP Tour in hard-court wins in 2025 (24) and is the only player on Tour to have reached the round of 16 at every Masters 1000 this season.

Not much could be done against the 14 aces and 35 winners by Opelka, who saved the seven break points he faced, while the American converted the only one he got in the fourth game of the second set.

Opelka is now 8-13 against Top 10 opponents, including a win over No. 7 Djokovic en route to the Brisbane final in January. Ranked No. 74, he will face Argentinian Francisco Comesana next.

In addition to this major upset, several other top seeds lost on Saturday at Cincinnati. Some of the notable defeats include:

• Casper Ruud, the No. 11 seed, was defeated by Arthur Rinderknech in three sets (6-7, 6-4, 6-2).
• Lorenzo Musetti, seeded No. 8, lost to Benjamin Bonzi in a tight three-set match (5-7, 6-4, 7-6).
• Flavio Cobolli, the No. 15 seed and Wimbledon quarter-finalist, was upset by French qualifier Terence Atmane in three sets (6-4, 3-6, 7-6).
• Tomas Machac, the No. 19 seed, was defeated by qualifier Adrian Mannarino in straight sets (6-3, 6-3).
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, seeded No. 17, retired during his match against Joao Fonseca.
  

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

• Nishesh Basavareddy vs. Alexander Zverev
• Ben Shelton vs. Camilo Ugo Carabelli

• Tallon Griekspoor vs. Hamad Medjedovic
• Brandon Nakashima vs. Alexander Blockx
• Karen Khachanov vs. Valentin Royer
• Damir Dzumhur vs. Carlos Alcaraz
• Luca Nardi vs. Denis Shapovalov
• Alexei Popyrin vs. Martin Landaluce
• Jenson Brooksby vs. Arthur Cazaux
• Adam Walton vs. Daniil Medvedev
• Jakub Mensik vs. Ethan Quinn
• Learner Tien vs. Andrey Rublev
• Roberto Bautista Agut vs. Cameron Norrie
• Jiri Lehecka vs. Tristan Boyer: sunday
• Francisco Comesana beat Luciano Darderi (29): 6-4, 3-1 ret.
• Taylor Fritz (4) beat Emilio Nava (Q): 6-4, 6-4
• Frances Tiafoe (10) beat Roberto Carballes Baena: 6-4, 6-3
• Terence Atmane (Q) beat Flavio Cobolli (15): 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (5)
• Lorenzo Sonego (31) beat Zizou Bergs: 6-3, 7-6 (4)
• Joao Fonseca beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (17): 6-7 (4), 5-4 ret.
• Ugo Humbert (20) beat Chak Lam Coleman Wong (Q): 6-3, 6-4
• Gabriel Diallo (30) beat Sebastian Baez: 7-5, 6-4
• Jannik Sinner (1) beat Daniel Elahi Galan (Q): 6-1, 6-1
• Adrian Mannarino (Q) beat Tomas Machac (19): 6-3, 6-3
• Stefanos Tsitsipas (25) beat Fabian Marozsan: 7-6 (3), 6-2
• Tommy Paul (13) beat Pedro Martinez Portero: 6-2, 6-2
• Felix Auger-Aliassime (23) beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry: 6-2, 7-6 (3)
• Alex Michelsen (28) beat Corentin Moutet: 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
• Arthur Rinderknech beat Casper Ruud (11): 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-2
• Holger Rune (7) beat Roman Safiullin: 7-5, 7-6 (5)
• Benjamin Bonzi beat Lorenzo Musetti (8): 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (4)