Western & Southern Open Wrap: Taylor Fritz Moves Past Jiri Lehecka As defending champion Borna Coric, Tommy Paul and Brandon Nakashima reach next round

Taylor Fritz came through a thrilling 19-minute tie-break on Tuesday at the Western & Southern Open en route to a 7-6(14), 6-2 first-round victory against Czech Jiri Lehecka in Cincinnati.

The American saved five set points in the first-set tie-break before he was gifted the set on his seventh opportunity when Lehecka double faulted. After winning the tie-break 16/14, Fritz dropped just one of his 13 first-serve points in the second set to triumph after one hour and 44 minutes in hot and lively conditions.

The 25-year-old Fritz, who reached the semi-finals at the ATP Finals last year, is currently ninth (2,515 points) in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin. Aiming to close the gap on eighth-placed Casper Ruud (2,605) and seventh-placed Holger Rune (3,045 points), he will be eager for a deep run in Cincinnati, where he reached the quarter-finals last year. Ruud and Rune both have first-round byes in Ohio.

Other results saw, Reigning champion Borna Coric made a winning start to his title defence when he overcame American Sebastian Korda 7-6(5), 6-4 in a match that was played over two days.

Former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka was also on the verge of victory when play stopped on Monday night. The Swiss star, who led Brandon Nakashima 5-2 in the deciding set when they came off, sealed a 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3 win in his first match since reaching the Umag final last month.

Tommy Paul joined countryman Fritz in the second round when he downed Miomir Kecmanovic 7-5, 7-6(2) in one hour and 54 minutes.