American Ben Shelton – up to sixth in the world rankings after his Montreal Masters triumph last week – was sent packing by 79th ranked Jaime Faria of Portugal in the third round of the Cincinnati Masters.
Shelton fell victim to a 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.
"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."
Take it all in ✨
— ATP Tour (@atptour) August 17, 2026
Jaime Faria earns his first Top 10 win in impressive fashion!@CincyTennis | #CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/GDh2sn6ecf
Men's second seed Felix Auger-Aliassime was aiming to kickstart 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 Cincy finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 7-5.
Auger-Aliassime looked fully recovered as he throttled Tsitsipas in 88 minutes, breaking the 49th-ranked Greek three times in the second set and firing his seventh ace on match point.
Smooth sailing ⛵️@felixtennis is through to the next round in Cincinnati after a comprehensive victory over Tsitsipas.@CincyTennis | #CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/1DGYcseeH0
— ATP Tour (@atptour) August 16, 2026
Auger-Aliassime said that 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 business-like 6-4, 7-5 defeat of Argentine Marco Trungelliti.
Keep hitting those milestones, @DaniilMedwed 💯
— ATP Tour (@atptour) August 16, 2026
The 2019 champion becomes the sixth active player to record 100 ATP Masters 1000 wins on hard courts, defeating Trungelliti 6-4, 7-5! @CincyTennis | #CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/ET3C3o0Tt3
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.