Published on August 16, 2026
Novak Djokovic struggled with extreme heat and humidity on Saturday but managed to overcome them before losing 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 to Thiago Tirante in what could be the Serbian’s last appearance at the ATP and WTA Masters in Cincinnati.
The second-round battle lasted more than two and a half hours and proved too much for the 24-time Grand Slam champion, who was playing his first match since losing to Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon semi-finals more than a month ago.
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Top seed Alexander Zverev, the French Open champion who fell to Sinner in the Wimbledon final, was luckier, as he achieved an initial 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Cameron Norrie in a match that lasted two hours and 45 minutes and ended at 2:15 in the morning.
Briton Norrie lost all eight of his matches to the German player, who won the Cincinnati title five years ago, and who hopes that a return to Ohio will help him overcome the shock exit in Canada last week.
Norrie finished the first set before Zverev began to regain his balance to level the match.
Norrie saved six break points in a 12-minute match to start the deciding set, but he broke his serve twice as Zverev took the lead.
“I needed to get into the rhythm of the match,” Zverev said. “The trust wasn’t there after Canada.
“The first set wasn’t great, but the other two sets were at a high level, and I’m happy about that.”
An exhausted Djokovic
Djokovic, who won the last of his three titles in Cincinnati in 2023, won the first set against Argentine Tirante without much fanfare.
But the extreme afternoon temperatures took their toll.
“It was a combination of heat and humidity and all that stuff,” he said. “Everything about it makes it worse.”
Djokovic won a brutal 18-minute third game in the second game, saving four break points after nine deuces. But he was bent at several points, and even fell on his hands and knees after a most exhausting exchange.
Djokovic had a medical break after that match, with a physiotherapist and then a doctor on court to help with assessments and ice towels.
After Tiranti won the second set, both players calmed down in the locker room.
Djokovic picked up a bit, setting the pace again in the deciding set. But things went wrong in the ninth game, when Djokovic saved three break points before missing a low shot to earn a fourth break point.
Tirante claimed the biggest win of his career in the next match as Djokovic again failed to land a shot on match point.
The Serbian player, who must now regroup before the start of the US Open on August 30, admitted that he may have played his last match in Cincy.
“It seems that unfortunately I will not return to play here,” he said.
Tiranti described the victory as the best in his career.
“I was able to control my nerves when playing a legend like Novak. It was all under a lot of pressure.”
The “focused” Eyala steps forward.
In the WTA draw, Alexandra Aila of the Philippines advanced to the third round with a score of 6-1, 3-0 after the injured Elena Gabriela Ros withdrew from the match due to a weather delay.
The Romanian player received treatment for her right ankle before play was stopped due to a thunderstorm, which led to the match being stopped during the postponement.
Ella, an emerging WTA star who won her first title in Washington, D.C., this month, will next play American ninth seed Amanda Anisimova, who beat Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez 6-2, 6-3.
“I was playing well and feeling really focused,” Ella said. “I tried to stay in the zone.”
She added: “Retirement is not the way you want to end the match.” “Injuries are no fun.”
Maya Chwalinska, who reached the final of the Roland Garros tournament, qualified for the second round by defeating Spain’s Cristina Buxa 6-2, 6-2.
Wimbledon winner Linda Noskova followed suit, defeating Britain’s Katie Poulter 6-3, 6-3.
There was great sadness for Payton Stearns, who grew up a few blocks from the tennis center. She lost 7-6 (9/7), 1-6, 7-5 to Danish Clara Tosson, who played while suffering from back pain but recovered from a 4-1 deficit in the final set to win.
