Zverev back for a big finish in rain-interrupted match

Alexander Zverev wrapped up some unfinished business from overnight on Wednesday as the third seed spent two minutes in tying a ribbon on his Cincinnati Masters defeat of Brandon Nakashima.

The German polished off his 6-4, 6-4 scoreline as he and the American played just one concluding game after returning to the court on with Zverev leading a set and 5-4.

After going down 0-30 on the resumption, the seed pounded out the following four points to move into the fourth round at the event he won in 2021. e now takes last week’s Toronto finalist Karen Khachanov.

There was hard luck for 2024 Cincinnati finalist Frances Tiafoe, who quit with lower back pain to hand Holger Rune a 6-4, 3-1 win and a quarter-final spot.

Rune scored his 100th career hard-court win and beat a top 20 opponent for the first time since catching out Carlos Alcaraz in the April Barcelona final.

“I had a little slow start but I came back quickly and increased my intensity a lot,” the Danish seventh seed said.

“I was moving the ball around well, in the middle of the first set I started to play well.

“It’s never nice to finish this way, but I’m happy with my level. I felt something was not right with him after I broke in the first set (for 5-4).

“I tried to move him around as much as possible, I wish him the best possible recovery.”