ATP Tour

Paul saves match point to stun Zverev in Cincinnati

Tommy Paul forged an impressive upset in a stop-start fourth-round quarter-final encounter with Alexander Zverev on Wednesday at the Cincinnati Open, where the home favourite saved a match point to oust the top seed.

The No. 24 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, Paul kept his cool under pressure for a 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-4 win after a near-90-minute rain shower interrupted his clash with Zverev in Ohio. Returning to court trailing 4-6, 4-3, the American saved the match point at 5/6 in the second-set tie-break before reeling off four straight games from 2-4 in the third set to seal victory.

“Not really sure,” Paul said when asked how he had turned the match around. “I guess just put some returns in. He gave me a couple of looks at second serves and a couple of doubles there, that helped me out a tonne. Then I was just going after the ball a little bit more, going after the second [serve] a little bit more. And I’m having fun out here, having fun.”

Even after returning from the long rain delay, Paul and Zverev were forced to stop playing twice more as light rain returned, but on both occasions it relented without them having to leave court. It was Paul who appeared to cope better with the disjointed nature of the match, even if he still had to dig himself out of several holes en route to his triumph.

After Zverev netted a backhand to let slip his match point, Paul seized the momentum to clinch the second set but was soon 2-4 down in the third. The American did not let his head drop at any point, however, and with his coach Brad Stine vocal from his player box, Paul found a way to reach his first Cincinnati quarter-final.

Capitalising on any moment when Zverev’s level dropped, Paul reeled off four straight games to earn a two-hour, 51-minute victory. The American, who won 47 per cent (15/32) of points returning Zverev’s second serve according to Infosys ATP Stats, now leads the German 3-1 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

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Having booked a spot in his 50th tour-level quarter-final, Paul will take on Flavio Cobolli for a semi-final spot in Ohio. The seventh-seeded Cobolli earlier halted the charge of in-form #NextGenATP star Rafael Jodar with a 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-3 victory.

Zverev was not the only Top-10 casualty Wednesday in the top half of the Cincinnati draw. The 21st seed Arthur Fils downed World No. 8 Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-4 to become just the second Frenchman to reach five Masters 1000 quarter-finals in a single season, after Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2012.

Standing between Fils and a semi-final spot will be Thiago Agustin Tirante. The powerful Argentine, who upset Novak Djokovic in the second round, kept alive his dream run at the Lindner Family Tennis Center with a 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 win against 14th seed Jakub Mensik. By reaching the last eight, Tirante joined Francisco Cerundolo as the only active Argentinians to have reached a Masters 1000 quarter-final (Cerundolo has reached eight).