Defending champion Coco Gauff falls to Putintseva in first match at Cincinnati Open
Defending champion Coco Gauff lost Thursday in her opening match at the Cincinnati Open, falling to Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva 6‐4, 2‐6, 6‐4.
Gauff, then 19, became the youngest Cincinnati champion last year on her way to winning the U.S. Open a few weeks later. This time, after a bye in the first round, the No. 2 seed blew a 4‐2 lead in the third set and lost to Putintseva for the first time in four career meetings.
Putintseva, who beat top‐ranked Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon, will face Spain's Paula Badosa on Fri‐ day in the third round.
The women's No. 4 seed also was eliminated, with Elena Ry‐ bakina falling to Leylah Fernandez 3‐6, 7‐6 (3), 6‐4. No. 3 Aryna Sa‐ balenka won her opening match, beating Italy's Elisabetta Coccia‐ retto 6‐3, 6‐4.
Taylor Townsend kept up her strong summer by beating No. 9 seed Daria Kasatkina 6‐1, 2‐6, 6‐1 and will face either fellow Ameri‐ can Jessica Pegula, the No. 6 seed, or Karolina Muchova.
In men's action, No. 12 seed Ben Shelton outlasted Argentina's Tomas Martin Etcheverry, 6‐7 (6‐ 8), 7‐6 (9‐7), 6‐3. American Bran‐ don Nakashima beat France's Arthur Fils 7‐5, 7‐6 (7‐3) to set up a meeting with No. 6 seed Andrey Rublev. No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz won the first set in his match against Gael Monfils on Thursday night before play was suspended by rain with the players in a sec‐ ond‐set tiebreaker.
Fifth‐seeded Hubert Hurkacz also reached the round of 16, but No. 8 Grigor Dimitrov and No. 9 Stefanos Tsitsipas were both ousted. Dimitrov fell to Hungary's Fabian Marozsan 4‐6, 6‐4, 6‐3; while Britain's Jack Draper beat Tsitsipas 3‐6, 6‐4, 7‐5.