Arthur Fery pushes Alex de Minaur but falls 7-5, 7-6(3) in Cincinnati third round
Arthur Fery pushed fifth seed Alex de Minaur before losing 7-5, 7-6 (3) in the third round of the Cincinnati Open on Monday, exiting a rain-interrupted match that lasted for over two hours.
The 24-year-old Wimbledon semi-finalist was making his first appearance since that run and entered Cincinnati as the 32nd seed after receiving a first-round bye. He reached this Masters 1000 third round with a single victory, a 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(4) win over James Duckworth, and earned $36,110 in prize money in Mason, Ohio — $22,000 more than he took from Colombia where he won his first ATP Challenger title in Barranquilla a year ago. Fery also picked up points for the week, with the article noting players can earn "50 to 75" points for one win in Cincinnati.
Rain disrupted the start of the match: the pair played less than two games before being forced off and later returned to stifling humidity. Fery began serving well and did not face a break point in his first five service games, but fifty minutes in, with the score at 5-5, De Minaur capitalised on a pair of missed first serves to build pressure and then broke. De Minaur had faced three break points earlier in the set, and after the decisive break he followed with a love hold to close out the opening set.
A rain delay between the first and second sets coincided with a momentum swing as De Minaur returned to the court in strong form; the report describes his defensive play as narrowing the court and exposing Fery's comparative lack of raw power. With De Minaur leading 7-5, 5-1 the match was halted by rain once more, and play resumed under heavy conditions that left both players sweating heavily.
The second resumption produced a sharp reversal as Fery regrouped and produced a five-game run from the rain delay to move from 1-5 to 6-5, forcing De Minaur to hold to level the set. De Minaur then closed the match in the tie-break, handing Fery a straight-sets defeat by 7-5, 7-6 (3).
De Minaur received vocal support from his player box, which included his wife and Britain’s Katie Boulter, while the contest unfolded as a tight, physical encounter that the report said lasted for over two hours. Fery nevertheless made life difficult for the Australian throughout, playing aggressively from the baseline and repeatedly searching for opportunities to finish points at the net.
Elsewhere in Cincinnati, Iga Swiatek recovered from a set down to beat Maria Sakkari 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 and progress to the fourth round as she defends her title, while second seed Elena Rybakina advanced with a 6-4, 7-6 (2) win over Magdalena Frech.
Fery was also announced as part of Great Britain’s Davis Cup team for the home qualifying tie against Ecuador next month at London’s Copper Box on September 19-20, joining Cameron Norrie and doubles pair Henry Patten and Lloyd Glasspool, with a fifth spot still available. "We know Ecuador will be right up for the challenge, so to be able to call on our top two singles players and two of the world’s best doubles players – all of whom have had good results in recent weeks – gives us a great chance of securing the win," said the GB captain Leon Smith; the winners of that tie will go through to the Final 8 in November.