Cincinnati Open: Sabalenka takes six match points to defeat Gibson
Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka escapes with a nail-biting win while in the ATP draw, Felix Auger-Aliassime downs ex-champ Stefanos Tsitsipas.
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‘Very emotional moment’
Shelton fell victim to the same sort of surge from Faria, who rallied from 4-1 down in the second set to post his first top-10 win with a 6-4, 6-4 triumph over the American in the ATP draw.
“These moments, you got to take it all in and just enjoy it,” Faria said. “It’s a very emotional moment for me and my team, to do it here in front of an amazing crowd and against the home player at night at an amazing venue just makes it a little more special.”
The men’s second seed, Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, was aiming to kick-start his US Open preparations after pulling out of his home Masters with back pain.
Auger-Aliassime, playing for the first time since a five-set quarterfinal loss to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon, defeated 2022 Cincinnati finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 7-5.
The Canadian looked fully recovered as he throttled Tsitsipas in 88 minutes, breaking his 49th-ranked opponent three times in the second set and firing his seventh ace on match point.
Auger-Aliassime said a late break of his serve could be blamed partly on the windy conditions.
“It was a tricky ending, but luckily, I was able to get the break back,” he said. “I’m happy to be back with a win like this.”
Fourth-seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev opened his campaign with a businesslike 6-4, 7-5 defeat of Argentinian Marco Trungelliti.
US sixth seed Taylor Fritz smashed a racquet in anger just five minutes into his match with compatriot Alex Michelsen but recovered his poise in the swirling winds to earn a 6-3, 6-4 win.