Cincinnati: Novak Djokovic’s third round struggle with defending champion Grigor Dimitrov was halted by rain here Thursday and the pair will have to come back Friday at the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Masters tennis tournament. The score at that time was 2-6, 6-3, 2-1 in the Serbian’s favour.
Officials called a halt to a frustrating day on which Roger Federer was never able to take the court for his third round match against Leonardo Mayer.
Earlier, Simona Halep and Juan Martin del Potro at last managed to complete weather-delayed second-round victories.
Women’s World No.1 Halep took advantage of an early afternoon respite from the weather to finish off a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Ajla Tomljanovic.
Argentina’s Del Potro had played just six points in the first game of his postponed second round match against Chung Hyeon before the rain came again. But the weather cleared long enough for del Potro to polish off a 6-2, 6-3 win over the South Korean to set up a meeting with Australian Nick Kyrgios for a place in the quarterfinals.
In women’s third-round action, reigning US Open champion Sloane Stephens was eliminated. Belgian Elise Mertens scored the second top five win of her career, beating Stephens 7-6(10-8), 6-2.
