ATP Brief: August 17, 2026
Faria Stuns Shelton as Cincinnati Delivers More Upsets
The Cincinnati Open produced another major upset Sunday as Portuguese qualifier Jaime Faria defeated Ben Shelton 6-4, 6-4, earning one of the biggest victories of his career and abruptly ending the American's momentum following his title run in Montreal.
Faria, 23, broke Shelton early and never allowed the American to take control of the match. The victory continues an impressive week for the Portuguese, who came through qualifying before defeating Jenson Brooksby in the opening round. Shelton, meanwhile, arrived in Cincinnati fresh from successfully defending his National Bank Open title in Montreal but was unable to reproduce that form in his first match in Ohio.
Felix Auger-Aliassime also advanced with an impressive 6-3, 7-5 victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas. The Canadian returned to competition after dealing with a back injury and produced a composed performance against the former World No. 3 to move into the third round.
Several other contenders advanced Sunday. Taylor Fritz defeated fellow American Alex Michelsen 6-3, 6-4, while Joao Fonseca continued his rise with a 6-4, 7-6(2) victory over Botic van de Zandschulp. Brandon Nakashima, Learner Tien, Daniil Medvedev, Lorenzo Musetti and Andrey Rublev were also among those moving forward.
Top seed Alexander Zverev had a considerably more difficult opening assignment, recovering from a slow start to defeat Cameron Norrie 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in a match that did not finish until approximately 2:15 a.m. local time. Zverev will next face Frenchman Terence Atmane.
The results follow another significant upset Saturday, when Argentina's Thiago Agustin Tirante rallied past Novak Djokovic 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Djokovic struggled physically in Cincinnati's heat and humidity and required medical attention during the match before suffering his earliest defeat at the tournament in years.
With Djokovic and Shelton already eliminated and Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz absent, the final Masters 1000 tournament before the US Open has opened considerably. Zverev remains the highest seed in the draw, but Cincinnati's early rounds have already provided opportunities for a collection of younger players and lower-ranked contenders to make deep runs ahead of the season's final Grand Slam.
Sources: ATP Tour · Sportsnet · TSN · SofaScore