Zverev one game from victory when rain halts Cincinnati play for the night
Ben Shelton’s scheduled night match with Roberto Bautista Agut will now be played Wednesday
August 13, 2025
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Alexander Zverev won the Cincinnati Open in 2021.
By ATP Staff
World No. 3 Alexander Zverev faces a nervous sleep Tuesday night after being denied the opportunity to serve out his third-round Cincinnati Open evening match against Brandon Nakashima.
The 2021 tournament champion had just broken for a 6-4, 5-4 lead when players were forced from the court at 9:03 p.m. due to lightning in the area. Heavy rain soon followed and less than 30 minutes later officials cancelled all remaining play for the night.
When play resumes Wednesday Zverev will attempt to serve out the match and set a fourth-round showdown with Karen Khachanov, who upset the German in last week’s Toronto semi-finals after saving one match point.
Khachanov, who pushed Ben Shelton to a third-set tie-break in the Toronto final, improved to 7-1 on the North American hard-court season with a 6-3, 6-3 win over American wild card Jenson Brooksby. He is up three places to No. 9 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings this week, just one spot below his career-high.
Last year Khachanov went 2-4 during the North American summer, a slump that included a first-round loss at the US Open. But he won 12 of his final 14 matches of the season and has gone 29-17 this season, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index.
“I ended last year on a high note and then had a good off-season,” Khachanov said. “I had a good level at the start of the year but I just wasn’t winning the close ones. But I started to have better results in the clay season and then the grass season. I’m really happy to be playing consistently and passing through the rounds.”