Djokovic overcomes stomach trouble as Zverev exits in Cincy

AFP  |  Cincinnati 

- battled stomach issues to beat and reach the third round in on Wednesday as women's title holder crashed out.

champion Djokovic called for the doctor during the second set against Mannarino but put aside his discomfort to progress 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 over the Frenchman before rain halted afternoon play.

"I wasn't feeling well, I didn't have a great night and wasn't feeling that well for the first set and a half," said Djokovic, who has won every Masters 1000 title except

"I kind of made it through, and with the help of the doctor and God...I'm just, you know, happy that I managed to overcome the challenge. Credit to him playing well the first set, but I wasn't myself."

Seventh-seeded Muguruza played for the first time since crashing out in the second round of her title defense, falling 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 to

"It was a very ugly match, but I'm happy that I fought, even if the level wasn't very high," said Muguruza, who got a late start to her hardcourt buildup to the because of an

"At the end, she managed to come back in the third set and play better and found a way to win the match.

"I'm happy I didn't feel (arm) Obviously I didn't have a lot of practices to try to recover, so I had to manage a little bit."

Marin Cilic, the 2016 men's champion, beat Romanian 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-4, but third-seeded was upset 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 by Dutch veteran

The German remains winless in four appearances at the pre-tournament. His early exit comes a week after he lost in the quarter-finals to fellow youngster

The 55th-ranked Haase clinched a surprise victory when Zverev fired a return long after losing serve six times.

"I think I played well. Today my returns I think were really, really good," Haase said.

"The first serve he hit at me was 136 (mph), and I just hit it right back. I was good from my side. Nowadays against top 10, 20, maybe top 50 you have to be a little bit lucky." Zverev came into the event leading the ATP with 43 match wins this season, while it was a seventh career win over a top 10

finalist beat 7-6 (8/6), 6-2 while Canadian advanced over of 6-3, 7-5.

Belgian 11th seed eliminated France's 5-7, 6-4, 6-2.

- Stephens untroubled -

women's champion Sloane Stephens was untroubled on her way into the third round, defeating German 6-3, 6-2.

The third-ranked American, who lost the final to world number one last weekend, reached the semi-finals here a year ago before falling to the Romanian.

Aryna Sabalenka of continued her successful tournament debut, beating ninth seed 2-6, 6-3, 7-5. Australian 16th seed beat Estonian 7-5, 6-3, while recent Gstaad champion was crushed 6-2, 6-0 by

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Thu, August 16 2018. 09:00 IST