The Round of 32 at the Cincinnati Open was suspended late Monday afternoon when the tennis facility in Mason, Ohio, experienced a power outage.
Photos from reporters on the scene captured smoke ostensibly coming from on-site generators at Lindner Family Tennis Center. Though there was daylight when the outage occurred, electronic line calling and the TV feed both went offline without power, forcing the delay.
Two men’s matches were in progress when the outage took place. Greek 25th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas led Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi 7-6 (4), 2-5, and fourth seed Taylor Fritz had just won his first set against Italian 31st seed Lorenzo Sonego 7-6 (4). Fritz and Sonego began warming up just after 6:30 p.m. ET and their match resumed just minutes later.
Before the postponement, Frances Tiafoe was among the players who took care of business as the 10th seed defeated No. 20 seed Ugo Humbert of France 6-4, 6-4.
Seeking his first ATP Masters 1000 title, Tiafoe pleased the home crowd by hitting eight aces among his 22 overall winners. Although Humbert saved 9 of 12 break points to make his opponent work for the win, Tiafoe’s first serve was too much for him (31 of 41 first-service points, 75.6 percent).
Danish No. 7 seed Holger Rune took down No. 28 Alex Michelsen 7-6 (4), 6-3. Tiafoe and Rune will collide in the Round of 16.
Also, No. 23 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada was ahead 7-6 (4), 4-2 when France’s Arthur Rinderknech retired. Rinderknech had collapsed, apparently due to the midday heat in Ohio, though he was able to leave the court under his own power.
Three matches were still on tap for Monday night, including World No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy going up against Canadian 30th seed Gabriel Diallo.
–Field Level Media
