Djokovic wilted, and Tirante did not blink
Two hours and 44 minutes of Ohio humidity did what most opponents cannot. Novak Djokovic went out of the Cincinnati Open in the second round on Saturday, beaten 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 by Thiago Agustin Tirante, an Argentine ranked nowhere near him.
The first set suggested nothing of the sort. Djokovic took it 6-2 and looked every bit the No. 3 seed. Then the air got heavier and his tennis came apart. Forty unforced errors. Seven double faults. Twenty-five winners and five aces, numbers that belong to a player having an ordinary afternoon rather than a great one.
Tirante hit 13 aces and 40 winners. He also spent most of the match unable to convert, watching Djokovic save 13 of the 15 break points he faced.
“I had so many points to break and I couldn’t, so that was the key, to keep believing in myself with my team,” Tirante said. “I managed very well the nerves of playing against a legend like Novak.”
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A condition that shows up in the heat
Djokovic, 39, had not played since Jannik Sinner beat him in the Wimbledon semi-finals last month. He offered no dispute about the result and pointed instead at his body.
“It’s just a condition that I have, health wise, that has been bothering me for the past couple of years,” he said. “(It causes) a lot of issues, especially when it is humid and it is hot.”
He also called the afternoon what it was. “It was not an enjoyable match for me, for sure. The way I felt. Not the first and I guess not the last time, but it is what it is.”
He still led 3-2 in the decider. Tirante took four of the last five games from there.
What the win is actually worth
Tirante is 25 and now 4-1 against top-10 opponents, a record that reframes this as something other than an ambush. He called it the best win of his career and did not hedge on the wording.
Martin Landaluce comes next, the Spaniard having edged No. 31 seed Matteo Arnaldi 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. The upper half of the draw thinned out around both of them on a day when Alex de Minaur needed three sets to advance and Jakub Mensik survived a final-set tie-break against Mattia Bellucci.
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