ATP Cincinnati Open Round-Up: Sinner cruises past Michelsen, Draper survives Munar challenge

Jannik Sinner (No. 1) and Jack Draper (No. 28) secured first-round victories at the Cincinnati Open. The world No. 1 started with a comfortable straight-sets win over local player Alex Michelsen (No. 57), while the British No. 1 defeated Jaume Munar (No. 89) in a tight match that was decided in a third-set tie-break.

World No. 1 Jannik Sinner had little trouble defeating the rising young star Michelsen by 6-4, 7-5 in his debut at the Cincinnati Open Masters 1000. This has never been an ideal venue for the Italian, who reached the third round, matching his best result from 2022.

The first set quickly tilted in Sinner's favor as he secured an early break and took a 2-0 lead. In the 4th and 8th games, Michelsen had a couple of break opportunities but couldn't capitalize. Sinner eventually claimed the set 6-4 after 46 minutes, winning 69% of his service points compared to the American's 61%.

In the second set, Michelsen showed better accuracy with his first serve, but Sinner raised his level in the crucial moments. The Italian hit 8 aces and a total of 20 winners, while the local player managed just 1 ace and 5 winners.

After a tight set in which both players held their service games, the 2024 Australian Open champion broke just before a potential tiebreak and sealed the victory 6-4, 7-5. In the round of 16, he awaits the winner between Jordan Thompson (No. 32) and Sebastian Baez (No. 20).

Despite being the clear favorite, it wasn’t an easy day for Draper. The 22-year-old Brit was coming off a first-round defeat at the Canadian Open against Thompson, but he had a good chance to improve in his Cincinnati debut. Munar had surpassed the qualifying rounds and had only recorded four wins in the main draw of Masters 1000 tournaments on hard courts. Additionally, all of Munar's major results had been on clay courts.

In the first set, Munar showed that he was ready to compete directly with Draper, holding his first three service games while conceding only one point. In the 6th game, he also secured a break and was up 5-2. However, Draper made a comeback, breaking twice in a row and winning the last five games of the set to take the lead 7-5.

Munar maintained his high level in the second set, once again taking an early lead at 3-0 after the first break. Later, he secured a second break in the 6th game and led 5-1. Although Draper showed resistance and recovered one of the breaks, Munar eventually closed the set 6-3.

A fiercely contested third set saw consecutive breaks for each player in the third and fourth games. Both held their serve throughout the set, with Draper facing a delicate moment in the 11th game, but he managed to save a break point. The set ultimately went to a tie-break, where the Brit secured a hard-fought victory 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(5).

His next opponent will be 9th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas (No. 11), who is coming off a big comeback against Jan-Lennard Struff (No. 36) with a score of 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. The Greek player will be highly motivated, as a victory would temporarily return him to the top 10, displacing Alex De Minaur, who is not competing this week.