Rafael Nadal beat Pablo Cuevas 6-1 7-6 (7-4) to advance to the third round at the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati, a Masters 1000 Tournament. Last week Nadal won the olympic gold medal in the doubles tournament and lost the match for the bronze medal against Kei Nishikori in Rio de Janeiro,
Cuevas beat Nadal in their previous head-to-head match in the semifinal at the ATP 500 in Rio de Janeiro. Cuevas made three consecutive double faults to face a break point at the start of the first set but saved it. Nadal got a double break to win the first set in which he dropped just four points on his serve.
In the second set Cuevas earned five break points but was unable to convert any of them. The player from Uruguay earned a set point on Nadal’s serve at 5-4 in the 10th game but Nadal saved it to force the set to the tie-break where he got a mini-break before sealing the win on his first match point. He will face either Nick Kyrgios or Borna Coric.
Milos Raonic battled past John Isner 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-5). There was nothing to separate between the two players from the start of the match.in which there was only one break point in the eighth game of the first set. Both players reached only two deuces on Isner’s serve.
In the tie-break of the first set Raonic got three mini-breaks to race out to a 6-2 lead and converted his fourth set point to clinch the first set.
Raonic served for the win at 6-4 in the tie-break of the second set but Isner got the mini-break back. Raonic won the next point on Isner’s serve.
Raonic won his first head-to-head match against Isner in their four head-to-head match. Seven of their nine sets were decided by the tie-break.
Dominic Thiem enjoyed a successful first half of the season in which he won titles in Buenos Aires, Acapulco and Stuttgart and reached the semifinals at the French Open but since then he has won only one match at Wimbledon against Florian Mayer and one in Kitzbuehl and withdrew after five games in Toronto because of a hip injury.
The young Austrian player showed improving form beating John Millman 7-5 6-1 in 80 minutes. Both players traded breaks in the third and fourth games. Millman saved a couple of break points in the 9th game. Thiem broke serve in the 11th game and served out for the first set on the next game. Thiem won 78 percent of his first serve points and broke serve four times. He dropped his serve only once.
Thiem will face Gael Monfils, who broke six times to beat Marcos Baghdatis 7-5 6-0, Thiem lead Monfils 1-0 in their only head-to-head match.
