Third round singles action continues on Tuesday.
Last month at Wimbledon, Coco Gauff was upset in the first round by Dayana Yastremska. On Tuesday, they meet again in the third round of the Cincinnati Open.
Plus, Carlos Alcaraz, Jessica Pegula, and Jasmine Paolini will alsoplay their third round matches. And in a battle between two Masters 1000 champions, Andrey Rublev takes on Alexei Popyrin.
Throughout the tournament, this preview will analyze the day’s two most prominent matches, while highlighting the other notable matches on the schedule. Tuesday’s play gets underway at 11:00am local time.
Alexei Popyrin (21) vs. Andrey Rublev (9) – 11:00am on Court 3
Rublev’s two Masters 1000 titles both came on clay, though he was a finalist four years ago in Cincinnati. However, across the past 52 weeks, he’s just 7-9 at Masters level, and just 8-4 at Majors. But he did reach the quarterfinals last week in Canada, and in his opening round on Sunday, avenged a recent loss in Washington against Learner Tien.
Popyrin was the surprise champion last summer in Canada, and also reached the quarterfinals last week, eventually losing a tight match to third-seeded Alexander Zverev. The Australian also achieved a quarterfinal here two years ago, yet this year he’s struggled, and owns a losing record. Perhaps no longer having the defense of the Canada points looming over him will free up Alexei’s play.
And Popyrin has actually taken two of three meetings with Rublev, which includes the final of Canada, Alexei’s biggest win of his career. Both players possess formidable forehands, but Popyrin is the one with the bigger serve. Having won their last two matches, I give Alexei the slight edge to prevail again on Tuesday.
Dayana Yastremska (32) vs. Coco Gauff (2) – Not Before 3:00pm on Center Court
In the first round of The Championships, Gauff fell in straight sets to Yastremska, as grass continues to trouble the two-time Major singles champion. On a surface that invites winners, Coco struck only six in that match, and committed 29 unforced errors. Then in Montreal, Gauff’s service woes resurfaced, hitting as many as 23 double faults in a match. Yet the 2025 champion played well on Sunday, defeating Xinyu Wang 6-3, 6-2, just weeks after the same player upset Coco on grass in Berlin.
Yastremska is now 31-17 on the year, and has advanced to a pair of WTA finals, in Linz and Nottingham. But as per Tennis Abstract, her Wimbledon victory over Gauff was her first top 10 win in 18 months. Dayana has a pretty big game, but she can also become error-prone at times, and she does not possess the same great movement that Coco has.
Prior to their Wimbledon matchup, Gauff has claimed their other three encounters, though she did bizarrely drop the first set to Yastremska this past April in Madrid by a score of 6-0. While the fast-playing conditions in Cincy are to Dayana’s liking, I still favor Coco to avenge a recent loss for the second consecutive round.
Other Notable Matches on Tuesday:
Hamad Medjedovic vs. Carlos Alcaraz (2) – As has been the theme of his season, Alcaraz did not play his best tennis in his opening round on Sunday, yet still managed to beat Damir Dzumhur in three sets. This is his first encounter with Medjedovic, who upset 26th-seeded Tallon Griekspoor in the last round.
Jasmine Paolini (7) vs. Ashlyn Krueger (26) – Paolini defeated Maria Sakkari on Sunday via a pair of sets decided by tiebreaks. On the same, Krueger required three sets to overcome Anastasija Sevastova, as the 21-year-old American now looks to equal her best WTA 1000 result to date by advancing to the fourth round. This is a first-time meeting.
Magda Linette (31) vs. Jessica Pegula (4) – Pegula defeated Kimberly Birrell in straights in her opening round, to record just her second victory since the start of Wimbledon. She is 3-0 against Linette, and has claimed all six sets they’ve contested.
Brandon Nakashima (26) vs. Sascha Zverev (3) – Zverev has reached the semifinals or better in his last three Cincinnati appearances, taking the title back in 2021. He has won all four times he’s faced Nakashima, though all four matches have been pretty tight.
Tuesday’s full Order of Play is here.
