Djokovic rallies to win at Cincy; injured Bencic withdraws

The last loss she’s had on hard on home soil came in the final in Cincinnati two years ago, losing to Victoria Azarenka in a third set tie-break.

Eighth-seeded Rafael Nadal lost to fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (3) in an evening match.

Under pressure, physical or mental, Williams finds a way, even at 33 and with a portfolio bulging with achievements beyond any of her contemporaries.

In the second round of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati on Thursday, Benoit Paire hit a attractive between-the-legs victor against Djokovic.

As he has played more matches, Djokovic said that routine has become more, well, routine.

“It’s only quarter-finals, I know it’s a good result so far and I’m playing great tennis but hopefully I can keep it up tomorrow”. Paire did manage to break back once, but it wasn’t enough as Djokovic proved to be too dominant at the end.

With things falling apart in the second set, Djokovic slammed his racket three times, drawing a warning.

Unseeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova also advanced to the quarter-finals when Azarenka retired despite leading the match 6-1 0-3. Wawrinka finished with eight aces.

Sixth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych, who routed Spain’s Tommy Robredo 6-0, 6-1, and Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov, a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 victor over Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz, will also square off on Friday.

In the bottom half, just one seed remains and that’s Simona Halep to came back to beat Andrea Petkovic 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Williams, meanwhile, won the first nine games of her clash with Karin Knapp before settling for a 6-0 6-2 win.

Williams won the tournament for the first time past year by beating Ivanovic in the finals. “I think my level is there”.

She’s already starting to get locked in on New York by limiting her responsibilities away from the court. I get super excited.

Bencic was coming off the biggest moment of her brief career.

The last six meetings between Djokovic and Wawrinka have seen the victor go on to win the tournament. Anderson lost this game, set and match after deuce was called five times and Anderson having advantage three times.

Williams is skipping next week’s Connecticut Open in order to prepare for the US Open, where she will look to earn her fifth consecutive grand slam singles title and fourth of 2015.