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Cincinnati Masters

Mboko, Osaka Cincy pullouts the worst-kept secrets

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Naomi Osaka and Victoria Mboko came good on hints they would skip this week’s Cincinnati Masters, with the finalist and winner at the just-concluded WTA event in Montreal tournament pulling the plug on Friday.

Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam champion, merely blamed “scheduling issues” for her decision, while the teenaged Mboko was actually suffering in Canada with a right wrist problem.     

“I woke up this morning, and I actually had my wrist a little bit swollen from yesterday’s (semi-final) fall,” she said after her three-set finals win over Japan’s Osaka.

“We quickly went to the hospital for an MRI and an X-ray before I came
to the courts to practice. But we got the green light that nothing too serious was going on in the wrist.”

A Cincinnati start already looked dead in the water. “I’m not planning on playing Cincinnati at the moment. I just want to take care of my wrist a little bit right now,” she said.

“It’s just very close and sudden for me to go there and play again in  like, two days. 

“I think I’m just going to sit out on that one and prepare for the upcoming tournaments.”

Osaka also did little to hide her decision to skip Cincy  “It’s going to be really interesting to go to Cincinnati. I don’t know. I feel like I’m a little teeter-tottering.

“It’s going to be interesting to see, yeah, what my next match is and how I’m going to play.”

ATP

Sinner claims full house with Indian Wells win

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World No. 2 Jannik Sinner became the youngest man to complete the full set of hard-court victories by beating Daniil Medvedev 7-6 (8) 7-6 (7) in the searing heat of Indian Wells.

The 24 year old Italian, didn’t face a break point during the final nor did he drop a set on his way to claiming his first title of the year and his 25th overall.

Sinner has won both hard court Grand Slams, with victories at the Australian Open in 2024 and 2025 and at the US Open in 2024.

In addition he has lifted all six Masters 1000 series hard court titles – adding the Indian Wells title to victories in Miami, Toronto, Cincinnati, Shanghai and Paris plus the season-ending ATP Finals.

Only Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer have achieved the same feat.

Main photo:- Jannik Sinner lifts Indian Wells Trophy – by ATPTour.com

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ATP

FAA raises his “standards” to extend QF hot streak

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Felix Auger-Aliassime bounced back after a slow start, with the Canadian raiding his game along with his expectations on Wednesday at the ATP Dubai event.

The top seed survived the loss of his opening serve to prevail 6-4, 6-4 over France’s Giovanni Mpetschi Perricard.

Victory marked the 10th quarter-final or higher at 11 tournament for FAA dating to Cincinnati last August.

The seed’s game is on the mend after a hiccup in the form of an Australian Open first-round loss, with FAA winning the Montpellier title and reaching this month’s Rotterdam final against Alex de Minaur.

Auger-Aliassime said that he tries to set an example to his team by way of keeping his tennis standards high.

“I’m responsible, I’m the one stepping onto the court – I’m the (support) team leader.

“I need to uphold the standards I want for my career.”

The winner who broke three times, said the ball reacted differently as he played for the first time in the afternoon.

“I couldn’t find my serve in the first few games, I needed to get some rhythm. he also made it difficult for me. I’m glad I was able to find a way back into the set.

The Canadian No. 1 improved his record against French opponents to 15-1 since the start of 2025.

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ATP

The heat is on as ATP bows to weather reality

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The ATP has bowed to the inevitability of weather, with a new heat rule for men’s matches due to be put into place for the start of the 2026 season.

While the WTA has long provided a pause after the second set of matches played in extreme hot weather, that’ not been the general case for the men.

Now, players will get a break when temps and humidity factors reach 30.1 C (86.18 F) or higher in the first two sets of a best-of-three-setter.

That triggers a 10-minute cooling break which can be called by either payer and which will apply to both. Competitors can use the brief pause to hydrate, change clothes, shower and receive coaching.

Should the heat exceed 32.2 C the match is called off.

.The new policy will replace the previous system where ATP tournament supervisors made the call with input from on-site medical staff.

The ATP will now fall into line with the WTA system as well as that of the four Grand Slams.

The tipping point came last season, when Jannik Sinner had to quit his third-round October match in Shanghai due to heat exhaustion in admittedly freak conditions for China in the autumn.

Novak Djokovic vomited during a match while France’s Ugo Humbert said players could “die on court” due to the torrid conditions. At the August Masters in steamy Cincinnati, Arthur Rinderknech collapsed on court, another data point which apparently led to the policy change

Main photo US Open New York 06/09/2023 Daniil Medvedev cools down
Photo Roger Parker International Sports Fotos Ltd

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