Extreme weather conditions wash out Jessica Pegula and Alexander Zverev's Cincinnati Open ties with thunderstorms in the area

Jessica Pegula hit back and won the second set in her comeback bid over Magda Linette at the Cincinnati Open but she couldn't complete the feat due solely to rain and thunderstorms as inclement weather brought an end to proceedings early on Tuesday.

No.4 seed and defending finalist Pegula was facing Linette and lost the first set in a tie-break 7-6(5) before Pegula hit back to take the second 6-3. Heavy rain and lightning interrupted the second set twice but Pegula got through it. Albeit they soon halted the match just as the American gained any momentum. She is trying to stop a slide which has seen her lose to players ranked lower in shock losses and ahead of a US Open where she defends a final run, it is not exactly needed.

She will now have to return on Wednesday to complete the feat. At the top of the hour after the latest delay, the Cincinnati Open released a statement: “Due to the rain, there will be no further play this evening." as both Pegula's game and various others were cancelled.

Alexander Zverev also faces a pretty nervous time on his return. He was about to serve out his win over Brandon Nakashima when players were forced off the court at 9:03pm due to lightning in the area. Heavy rain followed before the cancellation. He will set up a fourth round showdown with Karen Khachanov if he manages to win through. Khachanov defeated Zverev in last week's Toronto semi-finals after saving one match point.

Khachanov himself saw off Jenson Brooksby 6-3, 6-3 after losing to Shelton in the final of Toronto last week to stake his claim and he has continued that run. Speaking of Shelton, his night session match will now be played Wednesday. Khachanov though is feeling very confident.

"I ended last year on a high note and then had a good off-season," Khachanov said. "I had a good level at the start of the year but I just wasn't winning the close ones. But I started to have better results in the clay season and then the grass season. I'm really happy to be playing consistently and passing through the rounds."

All of this comes a day after the Cincinnati Open was hit by an incident as a thick band of smoke began blowing across the grounds with fire trucks and power shutdown. A player collapsed and Jannik Sinner was forced to play through a fire alarm. Not exactly what the tournament would've wanted and neither could be said for Pegula or Zverev in their latest ties. Albeit weather is a little bit less controllable of course.

A day after also Pegula hit out at the mixed doubles and urged for a change in format. “I’m honored that they asked me to play. I think it’s going to be great, I think it’s going to be fun and I think the fans will really enjoy it,” Pegula told reporters in Cincinnati. “At the same time, how they went about it, I didn’t think was really great.”

Also postponed on the WTA side was the third round between Clara Tauson and Veronika Kudermetova and two doubles matches. Magda Linette and Jessica Pegula will resume their match second after Holger Rune and Frances Tiafoe duke it out. The match will begin no earlier than noon and will be the first of three singles ties on the women's side.

Aryna Sabalenka will face Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in the day session, while Ekaterina Alexandrova faces off against Anna Kalinskaya to close out the night. The cancelled Kudermetova v Tauson game will play on court three at noon and the winners of the two singles ties aforementioned will face each other in the Last 16.