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Tommy Paul saved a match point to beat top seed Alexander Zverev 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4 in the round of 16 at the Cincinnati Open, and Frances Tiafoe removed the other half of the top two by upsetting second seed Felix Auger-Aliassime. Arthur Fils dismissed No. 5 seed Alex de Minaur in straight sets and Thiago Agustin Tirante extended a remarkable week at the expense of Jakub Mensik. Only three of the eight quarterfinalists are seeded inside the top ten.
Cincinnati, United States: A draw that had already lost Novak Djokovic, Ben Shelton and Daniil Medvedev spent Wednesday removing what was left at the top of it.
Alexander Zverev and Felix Auger-Aliassime, the tournament’s first and second seeds, both went out on the same day. So did the No. 5, the No. 12 and the No. 14. What remains is a last eight assembled almost entirely from the lower half of the seeding sheet, and one unseeded Argentine who is now three matches from a Masters 1000 title.
One Point From Going Out
Paul’s win over Zverev was the closest thing to a rescue act. The German took the opening set 6-4 and then found himself trailing 3-4 in the second when rain forced a suspension. On resumption the set went to a tiebreak, and there Zverev reached match point — one point from a straight-sets win. Paul saved it, took the breaker 8-6, and closed out the decider 6-4.
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It is Paul’s first Cincinnati quarterfinal, and it caps a subpar pre-US Open stretch for Zverev. Flavio Cobolli, who came from a set down to end Rafael Jodar’s breakthrough campaign 4-6, 7-6, 6-3, is next.
Tiafoe Removes the Other Top Seed
Auger-Aliassime became the highest remaining seed when Zverev fell and lost that status within hours. Frances Tiafoe beat him 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and 40 minutes on the Grandstand, in a match decided almost entirely by error count: the Canadian hit 37 unforced errors to Tiafoe’s 16, and his 13-2 advantage in aces counted for nothing.
Tiafoe’s own numbers were unglamorous — he landed just 44 per cent of his first serves — but he controlled the baseline throughout. It is his second Masters 1000 quarterfinal of the season and his first at this venue since 2024, when he reached the final. Days after surgery to remove a cyst from his right hand, he has now beaten Learner Tien and Auger-Aliassime back to back.
Lorenzo Musetti awaits, the Italian having earlier dispatched Portuguese qualifier Jaime Faria 7-5, 6-2 in 75 minutes to reach a Masters 1000 quarterfinal for the first time since Rome last year.
The Argentine Who Won’t Stop
Thiago Agustin Tirante’s week has moved past curiosity into something more serious. He came from a set down again — 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 — to beat No. 14 seed Jakub Mensik, having already knocked out Djokovic here and beaten Taylor Fritz in Montreal a fortnight ago. Two top-ten scalps in two weeks, and a quarterfinal against Arthur Fils to come.
Fils earned that meeting with the most emphatic performance of the round, overwhelming No. 5 seed Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-4 and compounding a difficult summer for the Australian.
Fritz Keeps the American Run Going
Taylor Fritz was the round’s most untroubled winner, easing past qualifier Christopher O’Connell 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 17 minutes to reach the Cincinnati quarterfinals for the first time since 2023. With it he became the fourth American man to reach at least three quarterfinals here this century, after Andy Roddick, Mardy Fish and John Isner, and extended his run on home soil to eight straight wins following the Washington title earlier this month.
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Brandon Nakashima, who saved three match points to remove Medvedev in the previous round, came through against Nuno Borges 6-3, 6-7, 6-3. It is his first Cincinnati quarterfinal; for Borges, a sixth Masters 1000 round of 16 has again ended without a first quarterfinal at that level. Fritz is next, in an all-American tie.
A Last Eight Nobody Predicted
Four Americans are in the quarterfinals. The highest remaining seed is Fritz at No. 6. An unseeded player has beaten a former world No. 1 and now faces a Frenchman who has taken out the No. 9 and No. 5 seeds in successive rounds.
Results — Round of 16, Men’s Singles
[6] T. Fritz d. C. O’Connell 6-4, 6-4
[7] F. Cobolli d. [12] R. Jodar 4-6, 7-6, 6-3
[10] L. Musetti d. J. Faria 7-5, 6-2
[17] F. Tiafoe d. [2] F. Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 6-4
[18] T. Paul d. [1] A. Zverev 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4
[21] A. Fils d. [5] A. de Minaur 6-3, 6-4
[27] B. Nakashima d. N. Borges 6-3, 6-7, 6-3
T. Tirante d. [14] J. Mensik 5-7, 6-4, 6-4
Quarterfinals: Paul v Cobolli · Fils v Tirante · Fritz v Nakashima · Tiafoe v Musetti
