Rybakina, Andreeva and Swiatek reach Cincinnati third round with straight-sets wins

Elena Rybakina, Mirra Andreeva and Iga Swiatek advanced to the third round of the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Masters on Sunday, with each securing straight-sets victories. Australian Open champion Rybakina, the second seed, defeated Taylor Townsend 6-3, 6-4, while Roland Garros winner Andreeva overwhelmed Oleksandra Oliynykova 6-1, 6-0 in 65 minutes, breaking five times and saving all seven break points against her serve. Rybakina said she was focusing on recovery after a demanding week in Toronto, where she finished runner-up to Swiatek. “Today I’m happy with the serve,” she said. “Definitely it helped me a lot. Last week in Toronto was very difficult. A lot of three-set matches” .

Defending champion Swiatek, the seventh seed, dispatched Emiliana Arango of Colombia 6-3, 6-0 in 71 minutes after dropping an early break. “It was necessary to get to know the court,” Swiatek said. “I'm happy I was patient. I came out for the second set knowing what I needed to improve. Things went pretty smoothly after that.” She next faces Maria Sakkari of Greece, whom she beat at Indian Wells in March. “She's a really experienced player and tough competitor,” Swiatek said. “It will be tough” .

Sara Bejlek continued her run against Czech compatriots, defeating Barbora Krejcikova 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 after upsetting former champion Karolina Pliskova in the first round. Marie Bouzkova also advanced, beating Italy’s Lucrezia Stefanini 6-2, 6-4 .

In men’s play, second seed Felix Auger-Aliassime opened his U.S. Open preparation with a 6-3, 7-5 win over 2022 finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas. The Canadian, playing for the first time since a Wimbledon quarterfinal loss to Novak Djokovic nearly six weeks ago, withdrew from Montreal with back pain but showed no ill effects, breaking Tsitsipas three times in the second set and sealing the match with his seventh ace. “It got really windy, it was pushing against me. I felt like I had no power in my serve,” Auger-Aliassime said. “It was a tricky ending, but luckily I was able to get the break back” .

German hopes now rest solely on Alexander Zverev after Daniel Altmaier lost 4-6, 2-6 to 10th-seeded Lorenzo Musetti, and Tamara Korpatsch fell 4-6, 3-6 to American Iva Jovic. Zverev is scheduled to face France’s Terence Atmane in the third round on Tuesday .

Anastasia Potapova, the 24th seed, was eliminated by Sloane Stephens 2-6, 4-6 in 1 hour and 15 minutes. It was Stephens’ second straight-sets win over Potapova, following a 7-6 (2), 6-4 victory in the first round of the 2023 Australian Open .