Western and Southern Open 2021: Osaka, Medvedev Wins Highlight Wednesday's Results
Some of the top players in the world were on display in round-of-32 play at the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati on Wednesday.
Below, we'll break down the day's top results and highlights from a full slate of action.
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Key Men's Results
No. 1 Daniil Medvedev def. Mackenzie McDonald, 6-2, 6-2
No. 3 Alexander Zverev def. Lloyd Harris, 7-6, 6-2
No. 4 Andrey Rublev def. Marin Cilic, 5-7, 6-3, 6-1
No. 7 Pablo Carreno Busta def. Dominik Koepfer, 6-4, 6-2
No. 8 Casper Ruud def. Reilly Opelka, 6-7, 6-0, 7-6
No. 9 Hubert Hurkacz def. Andy Murray, 7-6, 6-3
John Isner def. No. 11 Jannik Sinner, 5-7, 7-6, 6-4
No. 12 Felix Auger-Aliassime def. Karen Khachanov, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4
Key Women's Results
No. 1 Ashleigh Barty def. Heather Watson, 6-4, 7-6
No. 2 Naomi Osaka def. Coco Gauff, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
Paula Badosa def. No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka, 5-7, 6-2, 7-6
Angelique Kerber def. No. 4 Elina Svitolina, 7-5, 2-6, 6-4
Karolina Muchova def. No. 7 Bianca Andreescu, 6-4, 6-2
No. 10 Belinda Bencic def. Shelby Rogers, 7-6, 6-1
No. 11 Petra Kvitova def. Veronika Kudermetova, 6-2, 6-4
Jessica Pegula def. No. 12 Simona Halep (walkover)
Jelena Ostapenko def. No. 13 Jennifer Brady, 6-7, 5-4 (walkover)
No. 14 Victoria Azarenka def. Alison Riske, 6-2, 7-5
Elena Rybakina def. No. 15 Elise Mertens, 6-3, 6-2
The men's side of the draw was mostly chalk, with Isner's win over Sinner the top upset of the day. The women's side was mayhem, however.
While Barty and Osaka, the top two seeds, made it through, Sabalenka, Svitolina, Andreescu, Halep, Brady and Mertens either lost or were forced to withdraw. Suddenly, the field looks dramatically thinner for Barty and Osaka.
Osaka, of course, was the day's main headline after a tough matchup with Gauff, and after she chose to skip the French Open and Wimbledon this season for mental health reasons. Osaka did participate in this summer's Tokyo Olympics, though she lost in the third round.
She spoke about her hiatus from the major tournaments with reporters after her win Wednesday.
"I wonder what affected me... made me not want to do media?" she said. "[Maybe] I was scared of bad headlines. I should feel like I'm winning, having people come to watch me is an accomplishment. But that started not being an accomplishment for me, so I felt like I was very ungrateful on that fact."
There were fewer surprises on the men's side.
Fresh off his ATP Masters 1000 title in Toronto, Medvedev completely dominated his match, hardly breaking a sweat against McDonald.
"It's not easy to go from winning a tournament to another tournament in different conditions," he said on the court after his victory, per ATPTour.com. "You're tired physically, especially in the first matches because then you get into the tournament and it gets easier. I'm really happy that I managed to win quite easily. I was fighting a bit more for every point, trying to finish as early as possible."
Gold medalist Zverev handled his business, meanwhile, winning in Cincinnati for the very first time.
Hey, there's no time like the present. And on a day of upsets at the Western and Southern Open, he wasn't one of them.
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