Cincinnati Masters
US Open Women’s Day 1
Defending champion Iga Swiatek moved into monster mode on Monday as she crushed Swede Rebecca Peterson with the loss of just one game to effortlessly power into the second round of the US Open.
The Pole, who needed a few recovery days last week after losing to Coco Gauff in the Cincinnati semis, was ruthless in her demolition of Swiatek which took just 58 minutes.
Swiatek won her 54th match of the season against nine defeats. She now takes on Australian Daria Saville, a 6-0, 6-2 win nover over Wimbledon junior champion Clervie Ngounoue of the US.
Saville, who once stood 20th, is coming back from a nine-month ACL knee injury saga.
“For sure I’m really happy,” Swiatek said. “I feel like I could play proactively from the beginning and just didn’t stop.
“I’m just happy that this was such a nice first round, because first rounds are usually tricky.
“Also, I’m happy that I had time to implement all of the stuff that I practised.”
Swiatek fired 20 winners while holding Peterson to a mere two, with the top seed winning her 18th set this season to love.
The winner faced her only three break points in the opening game of the rout, batting them all away; she has now won 16 consecutive first-round matches in straight sets.
Fourth seed Elena Rybakina began with a revenge win, defeating Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 6-1; victory made up for a loss in Adelaide last January to the Ukrainian.
Eighth seed Maria Sakkari was bundled out on Day 1 6-4, 6-4 by Spain’s Rebecca Masarova, who notched the first Top 10 win of her career.
The Greek seed will end the Grand Slam season without a match win since Australia eight months ago.
Wimbledon finalist Karolina Muchova dispatched Aussie Storm Hunter 6-4, 6-0.
The 10th-seeded Czech claimed the first victory of the fortnight thanks to a late-morning start on a cloudy day at Flushing Meadows.
Muchova, Cincinnati runner-up to Gauff, said she concentrated on the challenge at hand.
“I was trying to be focused more on myself, play my game. I was happy to finish the second set with my serve.
“I got a little loose after the first set, but I played the rallies. I was going for my points.
“It was working; I’m pretty pleased with my performance today.”
Main photo:-Iga Swiatek winning first round match in less than one hour today – by Jimmie48/WTATennis.com
ATP
Sinner claims full house with Indian Wells win
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
ATP
FAA raises his “standards” to extend QF hot streak
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.
ATP
The heat is on as ATP bows to weather reality
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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