Julien Benneteau beat 2014 Cincinnati finalist David Ferrer 6-4 2-6 6-4 in one hour and 48 minutes at the Western and Southern Open Masters 1000 Tournament in Cincinnati on Monday to get through to the second round. The Frenchman reached his best result in Cincinnati in 2014 when he lost to Ferrer 6-2 6-3 in the semifinals.
Benneteau, who reached the quarter finals in Los Cabos last week, will take on either Steve Johnson or Federico Delbonis.
Nineteen-year-old Jared Donaldson won 84 percent of his first serve points to edge past Nicolas Almagro 6-3 7-6 (7-2) in 91 minutes. Donaldson will face number two seed Stan Wawrinka, who will make his come-back after being sidelined from the Rio Olympic Games by a back injury.
“I had to take some days for rehab. I took eight days off from tennis and started playing last Monday. It was not easy to not be there, buti t would have been way too much to fly to Rio”, said Wawrinka.
Wawrinka is projected to play against Rafael Nadal, who lost against Kei Nishikori in the match for the bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
In other matches, Jiri Vesely beat Tim Smyczek 6-4 6-2 and Adrian Mannarino defeated Quentin Halys 6-4 6-3. John Millman came back from a set down to overcome Ryan Harrison 4-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-4. Kyle Edmund also rallied from one set and one break down to overcome Yen Hsu Lu 2-6 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-4).
