CINCINNATI: Defending champions Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka booked quarterfinal berths at the rain-hit ATP-WTA Cincinnati Open on Wednesday with straight-set wins.
Sinner shrugged off a mid-match rain interruption lasting nearly three hours as he advanced with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) victory over Adrian Mannarino.
He next faces Canada鈥檚 Felix Auger-Aliassime, who beat Benjamin Bonzi of France 6-4, 6-3.
Sabalenka, taken to three sets in her previous match with Emma Raducanu, defeated Spain鈥檚 Jessica Bouzas Maneiro 6-1, 7-5, winning a season-leading 50th match of 2025 and reaching her 29th career last-eight at the elite 1000 level.
Sabalenka had to work after surrendering a second-set break, but she broke Bouzas Maneiro in the final game to seal the victory.
鈥淭he key was to focus and put as much pressure as possible on her serve,鈥 Sabalenka said. 鈥淚 was up a break, made a couple of mistakes and she broke me back.
鈥淚鈥檓 glad to win in straight sets 鈥 I didn鈥檛 want to stay for three hours.鈥
World No. 1 Sinner, playing his first tournament since lifting the trophy at Wimbledon, notched his 24th consecutive hardcourt match win to gain his fifth quarterfinal of the season.
The victory required patience, with the Italian who turns 24 on Saturday passing some of the afternoon weather pause by playing cards with his team.
Sinner had won the first set and they were on serve in the second when they returned, but Frenchman鈥檚 tricky game took a toll as Sinner was broken while trying to serve out the match.
The second set instead went to a tiebreak, with the Italian firing his 11th and 12th aces to clinch victory.
鈥淗e鈥檚 a very difficult opponent, different from the other players,鈥 Sinner said. 鈥淗e can read the opponent well.
鈥淚t was a struggle to close it out, but I鈥檓 happy to be in the quarterfinals.鈥
Earlier former champion Alexander Zverev polished off a weather-hit third-round victory, winning the final four points of a 6-4, 6-4 win over Brandon Nakashima.
The entire one-game exercise, with 2021 Cincy winner Zverev leading 6-4, 5-4 when play resumed, took less than two minutes, with the third seed set for a later fourth-round encounter against Toronto finalist Karen Khachanov.
Fifth seed Ben Shelton, last week鈥檚 Toronto winner, reached the fourth round with a 7-6 (7/3), 6-3, victory over Roberto Bautista Agut in a match rescheduled from Tuesday.
Women鈥檚 third seed Iga Swiatek and men鈥檚 seventh seed Holger Rune both booked quarterfinal berths before afternoon showers struck.
Wimbledon champion Swiatek beat Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 6-3, overcoming 33 unforced errors in a 95-minute victory.
鈥淚 wanted to be more solid than in my last match,鈥 Swiatek said. 鈥淚鈥檓 happy with the level of my focus and the consistency.鈥
Rune advanced as 2024 finalist Frances Tiafoe retired with lower back pain with Denmark鈥檚 Rune up 6-4, 3-1.
The match was a re-run of a quarterfinal here a year ago, won by the American who went on to fall to Sinner in the final.
Tiafoe received treatment on his back but it didn鈥檛 seem to help as Rune gained control.
The American walked dejectedly off court, carrying only a pair of shoes while an official carted away his massive tennis bag.
Rune, bothered this season by his own injury worries, secured his 100th career hard-court win and his first defeat of a top 20 opponent since he beat Carlos Alcaraz in the Barcelona final in April.
In another match interrupted on Tuesday, Magda Linette reached the fourth round at Cincinnati for the first time with a 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-3 upset of fourth-seeded American Jessica Pegula.
