Cincinnati Day 3 recap, photos, and videos

Wednesday in Cincinnati ended with a shocker, as Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli announced her retirement from tennis. The day also began in hard-to-believe fashion, albeit of a much less newsworthy variety than what Bartoli did. Out on Court 7, David Goffin and Montreal semifinalist Vasek Pospisil contested an absolute thriller. Pospisil twice led by a break in the third set only to give them back at 1-0 and 6-5. He had a match point on his own serve at 6-5, 40-30 but lost a long rally after Goffin had appeared to hit a ball long (video at bottom). The Canadian then had three more match points at 6-3, 6-4, and 6-5 in the third-set tiebreaker, all of which Goffin saved with winners or forced errors. Amazingly enough, Goffin completed the comeback by eventually prevailing 8-6.

Other than Rafael Nadal, who may be in a different stratosphere than just about everyone else right now, the best performances of the day were turned in by Tommy Haas and John Isner. Haas caught fire against Marcel Granollers after a relatively close first set and the 35-year-old was barely even losing points in the second. It’s hard to see Roger Federer beating him in the third round based on current form. Isner also pulled away after a tight opener. He saved a set point against Richard Gasquet at 5-6 in a tiebreaker then won it 8-6. Gasquet’s last three points of the ‘breaker were missed second serve return, another missed second serve return, then a double-fault. Next up for Isner is a huge-serving showdown against Milos Raonic. The Canadian got past Janko Tipsarevic in straight sets on Wednesday but was far from impressive. Either fatigued following his run to the Montreal final and/or dealing with arm trouble, Raonic rarely served above 115 miles per hour against Tipsarevic.

The night session began with Nadal up to the same kind of brilliance that had been on display in Montreal. After winning a 10-minute return game to begin the match and serving only four of the match’s first 38 points, Nadal was off to the races against Benjamin Becker. Playing three days after his triumph at the Rogers Cup, the Spaniard picked up right where he left off and hammered Becker 6-2, 6-2. There were only three or four reporters in Nadal’s press conference, which he held immediately after his TV interview. Tidbits included high praise for Thursday opponent Grigor Dimitrov, a revelation that grass is harder on his knees than hard courts, and–when asked about day or night preference for Thursday’s match–the admission: “I will play at 7:00 tomorrow. So I prefer at 7:00 because there’s not another option.”

Thanks to the incredible speed with which Nadal arrived for his post-match interview, there was time to head out to Court 9 for the third set of Tommy Robredo vs. Stanislas Wawrinka. Wawrinka broke for 3-2 in the third set but then had a minor meltdown and lost the last four games. Arguably the point of the entire year took place with Robredo serving for the match at 5-3, 30-30. A wild rally saw Wawrinka move Robredo back and forth from the net to the baseline several times. A second topspin lob by the Swiss appeared to finish the point but the Spaniard not only tracked it down but also returned it with an on-the-run tweener right at Wawrinka’s feet that Wawrinka could not handle. Fans watching Li Na in the Stadium must have had no idea what on Earth was going on at Court 9 with the raucous cheering. Robredo lost the next point at 40-30 but won the following two to clinch victory.