Overview
- Popyrin dropped a tense third-round match to ninth seed Andrey Rublev 7-6(7-5) 6-7(5-7) 5-7 at the Cincinnati Open.
- The three-and-a-half-hour encounter featured 32°C heat, rising humidity, a lengthy rain delay and a late-set interruption from a ringing phone.
- Popyrin appeared visibly exhausted after the final point, and the defeat likely extinguished his chance of cracking the ATP top-16 before the US Open.
- Rublev capitalized on the disruption to close out the match and will meet Argentina’s Francisco Comensana in the round of 16.
- Three-time Grand Slam semifinalist Grigor Dimitrov has withdrawn from the US Open with a torn chest muscle, and Alejandro Tabilo has been moved into the main draw.