Alejandro Davidovich Fokina: In his first match in Cincinnati since 2019, and his first tour-level appearance since the Wimbledon final, world no. 2 Novak Djokovic made a winning start as he won a 6-4 opening set against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina before the Spaniard retired in the first game of the second set.
It was the pair's fifth duel and Djokovic improved to 4-1 in his ATP head-to-head against Fokina with the retirement. The Serbian, who won the Western & Southern Open in 2018 and 2020 (when it was held in New York), will next meet Gael Monfils on Thursday.
"It's never the way you like to win, I think for the crowd as well. Coming in, they expect to see a battle, they expect to see a match. Of course, it's great for me to be able to come back to the court and win a match. Obviously mixed emotions with the way it finished. Nevertheless, I'm hoping that I can build my form day to day and progress through the tournament by raising the level," Djokovic said.
