MASON − The first big upset of the Cincinnati Open is here.
In a stunning result on Center Court on Saturday, Aug. 15, Thiago Agustin Tirante upset 24-time Grand Slam winner and three-time Cincinnati Open champion Novak Djokovic 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.
“Honestly, this was not a pleasant match for me at all. That’s how I felt. It’s not the first time, I guess it won’t be the last, but it is what it is,” Djokovic said after the match.
Djokovic was making his first appearance in Cincinnati since beating Carlos Alcaraz in the tournament’s longest match ever (3 hours, 49 minutes) in the 2023 final.
How rare is it? Djokovic has failed to reach the Round of 32 in Mason for the first time since his Cincinnati Open debut in 2005. The tournament had a 64-player field until expanding into a two-week event in 2025.
Djokovic won the final four games of the opening set and looked in control. Tirante fired back with an impressive 6-4 win in the second set, breaking Djokovic in the ninth game before holding serve to force a third set.
It was the earliest Djokovic had dropped a set in Cincinnati since his first match of the 2014 tournament against Gilles Simon (6-3, 4-6, 6-4).
Djokovic was making his first appearance since falling to Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon semifinals last month. Djokovic appeared to struggle physically as the match crept toward the three-hour mark.
Both players held serve through the first eight games of the third set. In the ninth, Djokovic continued to reach for his lower back and took his time between points, often crouching down. He later attributed these struggles to health problems that he dealt with when there was high heat and humidity.
However, that wasn’t the only thing bothering Djokovic.
“But then there’s all the other stuff – the nervousness and everything that goes with a match. It all makes it worse and that’s exactly what happened,” Djokovic said.
Djokovic saved 13 of 15 break points he faced, including three in the ninth game, but he chunked a drop shot on break point to ultimately swing the match toward the underdog. Tirante then held serve in the third set’s 10th game for the biggest win of his career.
The 39-year-old, a three-time Cincinnati Open champion, said that it was likely that this year was his last at the tournament.
“I certainly hope so (play here again), but unfortunately, at this point it seems more likely that I won’t. However, we’ll see what the future holds,” Djokovic said of whether he’d return to Mason.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Thiago Agustin Tirante upsets Novak Djokovic in Cincinnati Open
Reporting by Shelby Dermer, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Shelby Dermer, Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
